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Origin and history

The former hospice of Beaugency came into being before the 12th century, with a first mention in 1075. Founded by the inhabitants of the city, in 1176 he received a major donation from Thibault V, Count of Blois. From the 12th century, there remains a building serving as a room for the sick, finished by the chapel Saint-Thibault, recognizable by its modillons on the south wall and a bay on the west gable. This first building is distinguished by its two-sided roof and a lower polygonal apse.

In the 16th century, the site was enriched by a house body with a two-paned roof, a wall of coated stone, and a stone screw staircase covered with a polygonal roof. In 1515, master masons Pierre Gadier and Olivier Chollet built this staircase, perhaps commissioned by Jean d'Orléans-Longueville, whose coat of arms still adorn the building. An epitaph of 1520 in the chapel commemorates Jean Pivin, benefactor and administrator, while a Renaissance door, framed by pilasters, pierces the fence wall on Saint-Firmin Square.

The site evolved in the 18th and 19th centuries: a building collapsed in 1773, replaced in 1777 by a new wing (to the right of the courtyard), while the left wing remained unfinished. In 1812, the house of the sixteenth century was changed, and the abside of the chapel was added between 1847 and 1883. The stained glass windows (circa 1930) and the interior plaster decoration (19th century) complete its history. In 1928, the Hospice was acquired by the Professional Union of Free Education of the Diocese of Orleans.

Among the elements protected since 1929 are the Renaissance entrance door, the 16th century facade with its stair tower, the Romanesque wall of the chapel, and the epitaph of Jean Pivin. The site also preserves chimney capitals from the 15th to 16th centuries and a potentially Romanesque arch. A postcard from the early 20th century attests to missing carved medallions, one of which is now at the Beaugency Museum.

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