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Origin and history

The general hospice of Tourcoing, also known as the hospice of Havre, originated in 1260 when Mahaut de Guînes, Countess of Saint-Pol and daughter of Arnould II de Guînes, offered a manor house to welcome the city's poor. This establishment, originally dedicated to housing the poor, evolves over the centuries under the influence of religious communities and local needs.

In 1628, the management of the hospice was entrusted to the Grey Sisters of Comines, a Franciscan community which established a convent there between 1631 and 1747. The sisters focus on the teaching of young girls, relegating in second place the initial hospital vocation. The present buildings, a mixture of 17th century Lille architecture (wing of 1631, chapel of 1644) and French classical style (wings of the cloister, 1719-1747), bear witness to this period.

The French Revolution marked a turning point: in 1791 the Grey Sisters, opposed to the Civil Constitution of the clergy, were expelled. They returned in 1801 but finally left the hospital in 1850 after a conflict with the municipality over its vocation. The Sisters of the Child Jesus succeed them, refocusing the establishment on the reception of orphans and the elderly, in accordance with local expectations. Extensions were built until the beginning of the 20th century to respond to the influx of residents.

The hospital closed its doors in 1998, after more than seven centuries of activity. Purchased by the city of Tourcoing in 1999, the site was rehabilitated between 2001 and 2004 as part of Lille 2004, the European Capital of Culture. It then became a Folie house, a place of cultural animation, while preserving protected historical elements: the chapel, the facade of the refectory and the galleries of the cloister, inscribed in historical monuments in 1981.

The site also houses a medieval garden structured in squares of medicinal and tinctorial plants, recalling the ancient uses of hospices. The chapel, the heart of the monument, contains a 17th-century Baroque altarpiece decorated with sculptures and a painting depicting the Assumption of the Virgin, surrounded by statues of angels. These artistic and architectural elements illustrate the evolution of the Hospice, from a place of charity to a major cultural heritage of the Hauts-de-France.

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