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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Santiago de Besançon Hospital was founded in 1182, when the canons of Sainte-Madeleine founded a pilgrims' hospice on the ruins of the Roman arenas. Attached in 1436 to the Order of the Holy Spirit, he received only six beds. In 1667, two nuns of the Order of Sainte-Marthe de Beaune tried to establish a more rigorous management, but left Besançon after the French conquest of Franche-Comté. A split occurred in 1687 with the Daughters of Notre-Dame des Sept-Douleurs, an autonomous local community.

The major reconstruction began in 1686 under the impetus of Archbishop Antoine-Pierre de Grammont, culminating in 1703 in a "U" ensemble ranked among the most beautiful hospitals in the kingdom. The chapel, inspired by the Collège des Quatre-Nations in Paris, was erected in the 18th century by Nicolas Nicole. Apothecaryry, endowed with earthenware from the 17th to 18th centuries, and the ironwork grid (1703) of Nicolas Choutés, decorated with a Latin quotation, bear witness to this fascist. A bronze bust honours Sister Martha (Anne Biget), heroine of revolutionary and imperial wars.

In the 20th century, the St. Joseph (1959) operating block innovates with a lighting and antisepsy system designed by engineer André Walter, including a reflective dome and observation windows. Disused, it now houses a medical and surgical museum. The hospital, partially protected (classifications 1938, 1970 and 2012), remains a site of the CHRU in Besançon until its gradual transfer to the Jean-Minjoz site from 2012.

The gardens, vegetable gardens in the 19th century, and the statue of St James (18th century) in the courtyard of honor complete this heritage. The estate, transferred in 2024, retains some services (psychiatry, forensic medicine) pending their relocation. The hospital thus symbolizes the evolution of care, from medieval reception of pilgrims to modern techniques, religious humanism and surgical innovations.

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