Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The General Hospital Saint-Charles de Montpellier was founded in 1678 by letters patent of Louis XIV, on the site of the former Carmelite convent. The original plans (1679), designed by master masons Antoine Armand and Jacques Cubissolle, provide for a pavilion hospital organized on a grid with two courses. In the 18th century, the women's district was built, followed in 1746 by the wing of the Incurables, designed by architect Jean Giral. The latter also enlarged the church in 1751, whose dome choir was completed by Jacques Nogaret in 1753. The facade project carved by Pierre Dumas will never see the light of day.

Between 1821 and 1824, architect Fovis erected a neo-classical asylum in the west, under the direction of doctor Hyppolite Rech, student of Esquirol. Demolished in 1932, only one northern wing remains. In 1892, the creation of the Albert I Square led to the abolition of the forecourt and the construction of new pavilions by Henri Debens, including that of the diphthalmology (destruct in 1993).

From 1932 to 1939, Parisian architects Paul Pelletier and Arthur Teisseire built the Saint-Charles Clinics, a modern cement hospital block, decorated with glass windows by Émile Brière (1937–1939) and sculptures in high relief by Joachim Costa (1937–1946). The church was listed as a Historic Monument in 1947, followed by the enrollment in 1997. Disused in 1998, the site preserves a garden and elements of the seventeenth, eighteenth and twentieth centuries.

The hospital illustrates the evolution of medical and architectural practices, from 17th century religious hospices to modern psychiatric and clinical structures. Its grid plan, its successive enlargements and its artistic decoration (glass windows, sculptures) testify to its heritage importance. Partial demolition in the 20th century reflects the urban transformations of Montpellier.

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