Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Charlieu Hospital Museum is housed in the former Hotel-Dieu of the city, an 18th-century building. It preserves archives, furniture and objects belonging to the hospital and the religious hospital community. The museum reconstructs typical rooms from the late 19th century to the 1950s, such as the large sick room, the nursing rooms, and lingerie. Apothecary, listed as a historic monument, houses 18th-century woodwork, plant drawers and a collection of earthenware pots decorated with blue.

The religious dimension is evoked through the chapel, whose golden wooden altarpiece, also classified, is visible from the museum. A peculiarity of the place lies in the olfactory reconstruction of the atmospheres of the period: smells of plants in the apothecary, lavender in lingerie. These immersive elements allow to dive into the atmosphere of hospitals formerly run by the nuns.

The museum is labeled Musée de France and is part of an approach to preserving the local medical, ethnological and historical heritage. It is located at 9 boulevard du Général Leclerc in Charlieu, in the Loire department, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. His interest lies as much in his architecture as in his collections, which illustrate the evolution of hospital and religious practices over centuries.

External links