Vieille Charité
La Vieille Charité () is a former almshouse, now functioning as a museum and cultural centre, situated in the heart of the old Panier quarter of Marseille in the south of France. Constructed between 1671, and 1749, in the Baroque style to the designs of the architect Pierre Puget, it comprises four ranges of arcaded galleries in three storeys surrounding a space with a central chapel surmounted by an ovoid dome. The chapel and the hospice were classified as a historic monument by order of January 29, 1951. Construction The idea of an almshouse for the poor, dedicated to ''Notre-Dame, mère de Charité'' (Our Lady, Mother of Charity), was originally conceived in 1622; but it was not until 1640, that a suitable plot of land was acquired, with the first pensioners admitted in the following year. Although the foundation stone was laid in that year, construction commenced only in 1671, following a grand plan of the architect Pierre Puget. It was not completed until 1749, constructi ...
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