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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Hôtel-Dieu de Belleville-en-Beaujolais was founded in 1733 to welcome 14 poor, under the impulse of nuns of the order of Sainte-Marthe de Beaune. A first room of 14 beds and a chapel were inaugurated that year, followed in 1735 by letters patent signed by Louis XV. In 1739 a surgeon was recruited to assist the nuns in the care. The site was gradually expanded, especially in 1749 with the construction of a pharmacy.

In the 19th century, the Hôtel-Dieu had several extensions: a second room for the sick and a chapel were added in 1826, then a third room in 1850, completing a typical T-shaped plan of the Hôtels-Dieu. In 1851, a chapel dedicated to the sisters was built. Sister Martinière, superior of the community, developed the Belleville Mixture in 1829, a remedy marketed until 1964. Despite an evacuation in 1840 due to a flood of the Saône, the establishment was rehabilitated and modernized, even hosting an operating block in 1911 and a maternity ward in 1920.

The Hôtel-Dieu ceased its medical activities in 1962, becoming a hospice until its final closure in 1991. Ranked a Historic Monument in 1994, it now houses a museum featuring medical collections (apothicary, pots in faience, surgical instruments), furnished patient rooms, a chapel and a garden of medicinal plants. Its architecture and furniture, including street beds and woodwork, testify to its hospital and charitable history.

The site also preserves religious elements, such as the gates of the chapel of the sick and sacred art objects. After the departure of the nuns in 1981 and the closure of the hospital in 1991, the town of Belleville-en-Beaujolais became its owner. The Hôtel-Dieu illustrates the evolution of medical and social practices from the 18th to the 20th century in Beaujolais.

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