Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Hospital of Loches, also known as the Paul-Martinais Hospital, finds its origins in a hotel-God certified in 1462 but abandoned in the early seventeenth century. A map of 1575 suggests that it was located at the current location. The establishment was re-founded in 1619 by Suzanne Dubois, a nun from the Hôtel-Dieu de Senlis, in a building near the Cordeliers convent. Upon his death in 1626, the hospital ceased to function before being revived in 1629 by Pasquier Bouray, vicar of Saint-Ours, who established a hospital community there.

In 1632, the Duke of Épernon financed the construction of a chapel dedicated to Saint Charles Borromée, to repair an aggression against the Archbishop of Bordeaux. Under Louis XIV, the hospital was expanded in 1698 as part of a national reorganization of hospitals. Before the Revolution, it had 30 beds. During the revolutionary period, although threatened by the forced departure of the nuns, he was kept active because of the needs of the Vendée War. Additional extensions were made in the 19th century.

In the 21st century, successive changes preserved the 17th-century chapel, 18th-century buildings, as well as protected furniture such as paintings, a altarpiece and a statue of Christ. The façades and roofs of the 17th and 18th centuries, the chapel and the old choir of the nuns have been listed as historical monuments since 1975. The architecture, in tuffeau, follows a plan in "H", with a vaulted nave in cradle for the chapel.

The hospital houses several works of art, including three classified paintings (saint John Chrysostom, Saint Francis of Sales) and a clock. A table showing the Assumption, stolen in 2004, was missing from the inventory. Other canvases, initially in the chapel, were transferred to St.Antoine's church after the Revolution. These elements illustrate the religious, medical and heritage role of the institution throughout the centuries.

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