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Origin and history

The hospital of La Grave, located in Toulouse on the left bank of the Garonne, finds its origins in the 12th century with a first mention in 1197. Originally linked to the Hospital Sainte-Marie de la Daurade, he served from the Middle Ages to welcome the pestifers, before becoming in 1647 a place of great enclosure for beggars, prostitutes and alienated under the name of the General Hospital Saint Joseph de La Grave. Its extramural location allowed to isolate the sick, especially during the plague epidemics that struck Toulouse in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Between 1508 and 1514, the hospital was enlarged and renamed Saint Sebastian with reference to the patron saint against the plague. Facing the influx of sick people, the ramparts and adjacent towers (such as the Taillefer Tower) are requisitioned. In 1629, a particularly deadly epidemic decimated all patients in the hospital. In the 17th century, the policy of the great enclosure transformed the institution into a charitable institution, but problems of overcrowding and finance persisted, leading to bankruptcy in 1760.

The Revolution marked a turning point: the hospital, renamed Hospice de Bienfaisance in 1793, was run by the municipality. In 1797 he annexed former military premises, becoming the largest hospital in Toulouse with 6 hectares. In the 19th century, he specialized in maternity before gradually being replaced by the CHU of Rangueil. The Saint Joseph Chapel, built between 1758 and 1845, is an architectural symbol of the hospital, classified as a historical monument in 1978.

The serious hospice illustrates the evolution of medical and social practices, moving from a place of isolation of the pestifes to a modern hospital. Its buildings, partially protected (classifications in 1986 and 1988), testify to its central role in the history of Toulouse, between charity, social control and medical innovations. The chapel, desecrated in 2015, now houses a museum.

Architectural remains include elements of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, such as the dovecotes marking the entrance to the psychiatric area, the building of the Ladies of the Gate (18th century), or the old pharmacy of the early 19th century, entirely wooded. The ensemble reflects the successive adaptations of the hospital to the health and social needs of Toulouse, from the Ancien Régime to the contemporary era.

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