Help for sick and suffering people: from A.V. Chegodaev Hospital to the Pirogov Center (milestones of history)

The paper studies the history of formation and development of the National Medical and Surgical Center named after N.I. Pirogov. The authors tell about the charitable activities of Prince Alexander Vladimirovich Chegodaev, his establishment of hospital in Gagarin alley in Moscow and its transformation after the 1917 revolution into a Central Medical and Diagnostic Institution, whose patients were mainly scientists and cultural figures. Later the medical institution was expanded and consistently named the Central Hospital of the People's Commissariat for Health of the USSR, the Ministry of Health of the USSR, the Ministry of Health of the RSFSR. Now it is the National Medical and Surgical Center named after N.I. Pirogov of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. The paper also describes the activities of outstanding doctors who at various times headed this medical institution: V.N. Rozanov, F.A. Rein, V.V. Kramer, N.I. Ermolov, Y.L. Shevchenko.