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Origin and history

The Fremeur Hospital in Quimperlé, located in Brittany, has its origins in the 14th century, although its founding act was not preserved. The present building, rebuilt between 1523 and 1537, consists of a Saint Eutrope chapel, two superimposed patient rooms communicating with the sanctuary via stands, and a house served by a spiral staircase. The dates engraved (1523 on a sandstone, 1528 on a Gothic inscription, and 1531/1537 on a beam) attest to this reconstruction campaign. Its rectangular plan, with a south arm that can serve as a doratory, reflects medieval hospital designs, combining care and spirituality.

The chapel, opened on the rooms by stands, allowed the sick to attend the services, a characteristic common in the religious hospitals of the time. The basement, supported by circular columns, could retain remains of the original 14th century settlement. A coat of arms with full hermines suggests a ducal foundation between 1316 and 1491, although the role of the abbots of Sainte-Croix is not confirmed. The hospital was modified in the 17th and 18th centuries, with an enlargement in 1662 (southern housing) and an addition in 1703, and then restored in 1874-1875 by architect Joseph Bigot, who remedied the chapel in a neo-Gothic style.

In the 19th century, the construction of the Saint-Michel Hospital (1896-1898), financed by the MP M. de Kerjegu, marked a turning point towards the hygienist principles, relegating the Fremeur Hospital to a secondary role. Ranked a Historical Monument in 2002, the building, now decommissioned, illustrates the evolution of hospital care, from medieval maladries to airy 19th century pavilions. Its precarious state of conservation calls for rehabilitation, while its chapel, always dedicated to worship, recalls its religious and charitable heritage.

The excavations and archives reveal the presence of leproseries around the thirteenth century, highlighting the historic role of Quimperlé as a place of care. The small cemetery attests to the east of the choir between 1764 and 1824 confirms its funeral use. The staircase in screws, partly in stone (XVI century) and in wood (add of the XVII century), as well as the neo-Gothic walls of Bigot, testify to the successive adaptations. The Fremeur Hospital thus embodies nearly 700 years of Breton medical and architectural history, from the ducal foundations to the Pastoral Revolution.

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