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Origin and history

The General Hospital of Valenciennes, also called Hainaut Hospital, was founded by letters patent of 15 March 1751. Its financing was based on a tax of two liards per pot of strong beer, levied throughout the province of French Hainaut. The establishment was intended to accommodate the indigent elderly and abandoned children of Valenciennes and his region. This project was part of a policy of public assistance typical of the Old Regime, where general hospitals played a key role in managing poverty and social exclusion.

The final plans were drawn up on 15 July 1751 by Charles-Toussaint Havez, engineer of the Bridges and Chaussées du Hainaut, after validation by the Parisian architect Pierre Contant d'Ivry. The estimate was finalized on 8 June 1752, and the works, led by Gillet, architect of the city, began in July 1752. The site, marked by embankments of the ground (relevated by one metre to adapt to the level of the streets), partially finished in 1766, allowing the inauguration on 1 July 1767. However, work continued until 1774, notably to erect the chapel, whose nave was dated 1770.

The architecture of the hospital is organized around three courses: the court of honor, the court of kitchens, and the court of fools (mental malady). The buildings, made of brick and blue stone, form a quadrilateral 70 m deep, with pendant vaults and galleries distributing refectories and dormitories. The chapel, axial, dominates the whole with an apse bedside and cradle vaults. Four corner stairs serve the floors, whose floors are paved with blue stone. The current low-slope roof replaces the original that was destroyed during a fire in 1940 during World War II.

In 1831, the army health service obtained the concession of part of the buildings to set up a military hospital there, despite the protests of the Civil Hospital Commission. This occupation lasted until 1894. In the 20th century, changes were made, such as the addition of false ceilings to reduce the height of the rooms (7.5 m on the ground floor) and the reconstruction of the reinforced concrete structure after 1945. Ranked a Historic Monument in 1945, the hospital is now witnessing the evolution of medical and charitable practices since the 18th century.

The site, with an area of 1 hectare and 60 acres, illustrates the hospitable urban planning of the period, mixing functionality and symbolism. The entrance gate, decorated with a wrought iron balcony bearing the dates 1752-1774, recalls the duration of the work. The buildings, initially vaulted to resist (structure to the test), also housed arcades and a space dedicated to fools, reflecting the medical and social conceptions of the Enlightenment century.

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