Billrothhaus
During World War II the College of Physicians was abolished and replaced by the "Wiener Medizinische Gesellschaft" which was controlled by the Nazis.
The balustrade was originally decorated with statues of Apollo, Asklepios, Hygieia and Minerva, made of Loretto stone by the sculptor Anton Pavel Wagner.
Beyond a curved entry hall a wooden door with original corroded discs grants access to the building.
The original porter's lodge is located to the left of the entry hall and behind it, in the backyard section of the building, is a meeting room with old wooden furniture.
[2] A richly ornamented niche in the vestibule shows a bust of Emperor Franz Joseph I and on its side walls, a votive table reveals some facts concerning the construction.
After World War I, the members used their connections to enlist foreign literature, ultimately acquiring contributions from Uruguay, the London University and the Rockefeller Foundation.
Isidor Fischer, the librarian after 1923, was able to contract barter agreements with German institutions, which guaranteed a certain contingent of scientific journals.
[7] After the annexation of Austria to Germany, Isidor Fischer had to go into exile, but shortly before he was able to publish a book about the College of Physicians, of which he was not named as an author.
[1] During the society's abolition, i.e. World War II, Adolf Irtl assumed the business affairs by creating the "Wiener Medizinische Gesellschaft".
[9] In 2006, approximately 26,000 history-of-medicine monographs and 300 journals documenting the medical developments during the former Habsburg monarchy, were added to the permanent loanstock.
The service continued to expand such that today it has a system for Medline-search, about 700 electronic journals and a catalogue of the historic collection.
In collaboration with the Austrian Medical Association, the society offers E-learning courses for physicians since 2004, and since 1998, all scientific meetings are captured on video and uploaded onto their website.
