Hôpital de la Charité (, "Charity Hospital") was a

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

in Paris founded in the 17th century and closed in 1935.

History

In 1606,

Marie de Médicis Marie de' Medici (french: link=no, Marie de Médicis, it, link=no, Maria de' Medici; 26 April 1575 – 3 July 1642) was Queen of France and Navarre as the second wife of King Henry IV of France of the House of Bourbon, and Regent of the Kingdom ...

invited the

Brothers Hospitallers of St. John of God The Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John of God, officially the Hospitaller Order of the Brothers of Saint John of God (abbreviated as O.H.), are a Catholic religious order founded in 1572. In Italian they are also known commonly as the Fatebenef ...

to come to France. The Abbot of Saint-Germain-des-Prés granted them the use of its former Saint-Père chapel, which they repaired. They were later given the chapel and its attached cemetery outright. In 1613, work started on the construction of major hospital structures. The old chapel was demolished and a new one was established in July 1621 by the

Archbishop of Embrun The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Embrun was located in southeastern France, in the mountains of the Maritime Alps, on a route that led from Gap by way of Briançon to Turin. It had as suffragans the Diocese of Digne, Diocese of Antibes and Gra ...

. It was renovated in the middle of the 17th century, and in 1732 it received its great portal designed by the architect

Jules-Robert de Cotte Jules-Robert de Cotte (1683–1767) was a renowned French architect, the son of one of the most highly regarded architect-administrators of his era, Robert de Cotte. The younger de Cotte assisted his father in the most prestigious architectural ...

. The rue Turenne façade was designed by Destouches. The chapel still stands at the corner of the boulevard Saint-Germain and the rue des Saints-Pères. The French National Academy of Medicine had its offices in this chapel from 1850 to 1902. The original buildings of the Hôpital de la Charité were demolished around 1935 to make place for the new

Faculté de médecine de Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

. The 18th-century French physician and encyclopédiste

Louis-Anne La Virotte Louis-Anne La Virotte (15 July 1725, in Nolay, Côte-d'Or, Nolay (Côte-d’Or) – 3 March 1759, in Paris) was an 18th-century French physician and Encyclopédistes, encyclopédiste. Biography He first studied medicine at the Université de Mo ...

(1725–1759) worked at the hôpital in 1758. In the late 18th-century, the hospital became an important institution for clinical instruction; Louis Desbois de Rochefort (1750-1786) started a bedside instruction that focused on the patient's symptoms and physical signs as diagnostic indicators, marking a major development in the

history of medicine in France The history of medicine in France focuses on how the medical profession and medical institutions in France have changed over time. Early medicine in France was defined by, and administered by, the Catholic church. Medicine and care were one of the ...

. Rochefort was succeeded by his assistant Corvisart in 1788, who questioned the traditional humoral theory, and employed more physical methods such as palpitation and percussion.

References

Buildings and structures completed in 1621 Charite Former buildings and structures in Paris Defunct hospitals in France Hospitals established in the 17th century 1935 disestablishments in France Demolished buildings and structures in Paris 17th-century establishments in France Hospitals disestablished in 1935 1621 establishments in France Buildings and structures demolished in 1935 Former Catholic hospitals {{France-struct-stub