Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Flaubert and History of Medicine Museum occupies the former Hôtel-Dieu in Rouen, a 17th-century building built during plague outbreaks. In 1750, the patients of the Magdalen Hospital were transferred there after the expansion of the site, including the surgeon's pavilion, now dedicated to collections. This place is also Gustave Flaubert's home, born in 1821 in the surgeon's room, preserved intact.

Founded in 1901, the museum first brought together apothecary pots and medical items donated by doctors. Located in the library of the School of Medicine, he was transferred in 1923 to the Hôtel-Dieu, then took its present form in 1947. Labeled Musée de France and Maison des Illustres, he exhibited surgical instruments, an 18th-century delivery model designed by Angélique du Coudray, and mummified heads of convicted men of 1789.

The collections cover medical history from the 16th to the 20th century, with pharmaceutical ceramics, hospital beds (including a six-seat model), and wrought iron grilles from 1775. The garden has been home to Gustave Flaubert's high relief since 1982, initially placed on the façade of the Museum of Fine Arts. The Hotel-Dieu, classified as a historical monument in 1932, illustrates the evolution of hospital and literary practices.

Among the works exhibited are paintings such as the Portrait of Achille Flaubert by Hippolyte Bellangé, and documents on childbirth, including the Machine of Madame du Coudray, a revolutionary educational object. The museum also evokes the youth of Flaubert, son of a surgeon from the Hôtel-Dieu, through archives and a reconstituted apartment.

The site, managed by the Métropole Rouen Normandie, highlights a double heritage: medical, with rare instruments such as old bottles or amulets, and literary, thanks to the links with the writer. The woodwork of the 18th century and the thematic rooms (pharmacy, paediatrics) complete this immersion in Norman history.

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