Hôtel Dieu

1 Place de l'Hôpital

About

According to the legend, King Childebert and his wife Ultrogothe founded this hospital in 542. Their statues were erected on the first floor of the façade as a reminder of their good work with the sick and needy. When Jacques Blanc rebuilt the hospital between 1622 and 1627, the King still wanted it to serve the poor but the number of patients had risen considerably. The building, located today between the quai du Rhône and the grande rue de l'Hôpital, isn't big enough to cover the needs of a growing population. The ingenious cross-shaped layout and the little dome with cut-off sections (the first in France) bear witness to his talent. In 1732,the hospital governors sent the King a plan to enlarge the buildings and make it a showpiece for the town. At that time, the left bank was relatively undeveloped and the future building must have impressed people coming in from the Dauphiné countryside. A young architect named Jacques-Germain Soufflot won the competition to redesign the hospital with his ambitious project to incorporate the existing buildings. Work on this neo-classical building with Ionic colonnades on the front and Doric pillars inside was started in 1741 and finished in 1837. It is now a majestic enclosure along the Rhône hiding its real purpose behind its walls.

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