Georges Chicotot - Radiologist physician (XIXth–XXth century)
X-ray precursor in cancerology.
Origin and history
The Museum of Public Assistance - Hospitals of Paris (AP-HP) was inaugurated on 28 April 1934 in the hotel of Miramion, a mansion in the 5th arrondissement of Paris. The first hospital museum in France, its mission was to preserve and exhibit objects related to the history of Parisian hospitals, including pharmaceutical faiences, paintings, archives and medical instruments. These collections, gathered by the end of the 19th century, reflected the social, religious and medical transformations of hospital establishments, which were undergoing modernization.
The museum has been enriched over the decades by donations, acquisitions and backups by hospitals. His major works included works of religious art (such as Christ to the outrages of Hendrick ter Brugghen), objects related to social history (the Tower of Abandonment of Saint Vincent de Paul Hospital), and emblematic medical instruments (Laennec stethoscope, busts molded by Bourneville). In 1998, he obtained the status of "controlled museum" for the quality of his collections, before being recognized as " Musée de France" in 2002.
Closed to the public in June 2012 after moving from the Miramion hotel (sold to a private individual), the museum was originally to reopen at the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris, but this project was abandoned. His collections, with more than 10,000 works and objects (paintings, surgical instruments, archives, faiences, medical clothing), are now kept at the Bicêtre Hospital (Val-de-Marne). They illustrate the evolution of medical practices, the history of health professions, and the representations of body and disease, from the Middle Ages to the present.
The hospital heritage exhibited covers a variety of topics: religious influence (lighted manuscripts, liturgical objects), social assistance (abandoned, marginal children), medical advances (Dupuytren instruments, radiology, pharmacy), and the evolution of paramedical professions (nurses, childcare). The museum also organized temporary exhibitions, such as The Lesson of Charcot (1986) or the Humanization of the Hospital (2009), and published scientific catalogues.
Although currently closed, the AP-HP museum remains a key player in the preservation of hospital memory. Its collections, partially accessible online or via travelling exhibitions, continue to bear witness to the legacy and ruptures that shaped the modern hospital, mirroring the transformations of French society. Its history also reflects the challenges of heritage conservation in the context of the modernization of health facilities.
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Collection
Les collections du musée de l'Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris se composent aujourd'hui d'un ensemble de plus de 10 000 oeuvres et objets, représentatifs de la vie hospitalière, du Moyen Âge à nos jours : peintures, sculptures, dessins et gravures, mobilier, textiles, traités de médecine, instruments et appareils médicaux, objets de soins et d'enseignement.
