The bronze bust statue of the world-famous Hungarian doctor was placed in front of the entrance of the main clinical building of the University of Maribor, made by the acclaimed sculptor Iván Paulikovics. The monument was donated by Semmelweis University in Budapest to the centre of Alma Mater Europea in Maribor, in the frame of the Semmelweis memorial year 2018.
Ludwik Toplak, president of Alma Mater Europea, informed the press: “In the middle of the 19th century Semmelweis as the head of the gynaecology clinic in Vienna, significantly reduced the proportion of mothers who had died in puerperal fever two decades before Louis Pasteur published the theory of microorganisms causing infections. His anti-infectious methods and contribution to hygiene made Semmelweis one of the most important doctors of medical science in Central Europe and also a humanist expert – emphasized Toplak.
He emphasized that Semmelweis University decided to donate a bust statue to Alma Mater Europea after the two institutions of higher education had organised an international conference in Maribor in March in memory of Semmelweis.
He also added that the Alma Mater Europea later donated the bust statue to the hospital in Maribor.
The Hungarian government declared the year 2018 as Ignác Semmelweis memorial year, in order to remember the “Saviour of Mothers” in a worthy manner on the 200th anniversary of his birth. The Maribor delegation was attended by professor László Rosivall, chairman of the Semmelweis Memorial Committee and Edit Szilágyiné Bátorfi, Ambassador of Hungary in Ljubljana.
Resource: Krisztina Kriják (MTI)
Photo: maribor24.si