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Origin and history

The General Hospital of Douai, founded under the Old Regime, never had an initial medical vocation but was used to lock up beggars and the poor. Created in 1656 by the royal power to combat begging, it quickly became a correction house and a prison, reflecting the social and religious concerns of the time, notably carried by the Society of the Blessed Sacrament under Louis XIII and Louis XIV. The economic crisis linked to the Fronde increased poverty, justifying its creation as a tool for social control and moralization.

The present establishment was erected thanks to letters-patentes of Louis XV in June 1752, with a first stone laid on 22 July 1756 by Charles-Joseph de Pollinchove, President of the Parliament of Flanders. Designed in the shape of a cross to separate men, women, boys and girls, the central building housed a kitchen on the ground floor and a rotunda chapel upstairs. The infirmaries, added from 1788, were completed in 1806 after interruptions due to the Revolution. The entrance pediment, decorated with an allegory of Charity carved by Theophile Bra in 1835, symbolizes his charitable vocation.

In the 19th century, the hospital housed up to 673 residents during frumentary crises, before becoming a modern medical institution. In the 20th century, it became a retirement home, with 160 dependent seniors until 2011. Disused due to regulatory standards, the site was purchased in 2012 by the community of agglomeration of Douaisis, then sold in 2014 for a conversion into a hotel complex and luxury housing, despite significant delays in the works.

Ranked a historic monument in 1946, the General Hospital illustrates the evolution of social policies, from the confinement of the poor to the reception of the elderly. Its architecture, marked by a central cross and distinct wings, reflects the principles of separation and discipline of the era. The bombings of 1944 damaged certain outbuildings, which are now extinct, but the main body was restored identically, preserving this major testimony of the French hospital and charitable heritage.

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