Hotel Dieu de Beaune

Knowing that Mimi had not seen the Hotel Dieu in Beaune and I hadn't been there since 2012, we climbed into Elisabeth's car and headed north.

Though I hadn't recognized the road we were on, I thought I recognized the tower of the church in Chapaize and was rather pleased with myself when that turned out to be correct.

 It seemed people were working in every vineyard we passed.

Just another round-about that looked interesting. Unfortunately, the driver has the best position for getting a good photo, but is busy driving. The front seat passenger has obstacles like mirrors to avoid and there aren't places to pull over for taking photos when the area is designed for cars to keep on moving! Much more interesting round-abouts just never get into a decent picture.

This is the unimpressive view of the hospital from the street...

but inside is a different atmosphere. 

The Hotel Dieu, founded in 1443 as a hospital for the poor,  was used as a hospital into the late 1970s!

Marauding bands continued to wreak havoc even after The Hundred Years War ended. An outbreak of the Plague brought more misery. Most of the inhabitants of Beaune and its environs were considered to be destitute. It was definitely an appropriate place to build a hospital for the poor.

This is the main room for patients. There are drapes on each side of the beds and walking space between the beds and the wall. I suspect that's where the chamber pots were kept. I didn't think the beds were big enough for one person, but apparently they were once considered to be large enough for two! Meals would have been served at tables and benches in the center.

Here Mimi and Elisabeth are listening to the audio guides. The "nun" isn't real...

Strange wooden carvings decorate the top of the wall and fish-like creatures hold the cross-beams.

 Rather ornate woodwork separates the bed area from the chapel at the far end of the room.

This was a Catholic hospital, approved by the pope, so religion was part of patient care. Having the chapel within the room where patients stayed meant they could attend mass while in their beds.

Though there was concern for the souls of poor patients, there was far less concern for keeping them warm. Only the rooms for paying patients had fireplaces! No heat source in this main room.

The floor tiles were designed around the initials of the founder and his wife.

The audio guides were easy to use...just press the number buttons for whatever number was standing by you. Then press the green button if you wanted even more information for that location.

We were now at the far end of the courtyard and about to enter the next long building.

 The rooms for paying patients are smaller with large fireplaces.

To have enough water for keeping people and the place clean, they built the hospital on top of the river. This became a big expense since they needed lots of pilings to stabilize the foundations. As a museum, they have left this space in the floor covered with glass. That's running water down below!

Again, a room with a fireplace...not where the poor patients were living. The glass cases hold artifacts such as old medical instruments including a self-administered enema. Apparently that was prescribed quite regularly as a cure for just about anything.

 The kitchen would have been a busy place.

Yup, there's water down there...

 Once upon a time there were 4 wells in this courtyard...

There is a room for mixing medicines.

Apparently this bow and string arrangement is really an overgrown mortar and pestle. I wish someone would demonstrate how it works because that was beyond my imagination.

As to the purpose of the machinery below, I haven't a clue, but somehow they don't build my confidence in the healing arts.

In the next room the walls were lined with "medicines" in bottles and pottery. Another area of this museum housed old artifacts and impressive tapestries...

Even the stained glass mixes religion with medicine.

The window above was apparently created from leftovers...unbroken pieces from other windows.

To the left is a case-up of the center.

Sometimes it's hard to tell from the pictures that these are tapestries, not paintings.

Blowing up the photo helps show it really is a tapestry.

The idea that someone WOVE these pictures boggles my mind.

Our visit to the Hotel Dieu was over. We headed across the square to a sandwich shop for lunch.