Ancien hospice ou hôpital Saint-Louis

English translation

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History

Ruined by the Revolution, the old hospital became inadequate. In the early 19th century, the wealthy abbé Jean Martel, a native of Bédarieux, offered to take charge of a new structure and turned to the Congregation of the Daughters of the Cross (known as the Sisters of Saint-André) in Paris, who sent four sisters in 1820. He made a donation to the commune for the construction of a new hospice whose project came to fruition in 1822. That year a young vicar, abbé Tarroux, arrived in Bédarieux, sent to assist the canon Aoust, curate of the parish of Saint-Alexandre. The young abbé took charge of the project and launched a first subscription drive which received a favourable reception in this then prosperous place. The municipality did not commit to the project but the abbé created an Execution Committee which purchased a plot of 38 ares at the entrance to the Saint-Louis suburb. The project was entrusted to the architect Jean-Pierre Blanc who had just completed in 1821 the town hall of Bédarieux and the monumental door of the parish church of Saint-Alexandre. His plans and estimates for Saint-Louis are dated 1825. In 1826, once the work was completed, the Execution Committee offered the entire plot of land and buildings to the municipality which accepted it in 1827, a donation confirmed by royal ordinance (Charles X).

Description

The long rectangular buildings of the hospice, six bays each on two levels plus roof space, are distributed symmetrically on either side of the central chapel: on the right, to the north, the women's wing with a parlour, refectory of the sisters, kitchen, wine-cellar, pharmacy and its laboratory, dressing room, depository (Requiescant in Pace room) with direct access to the chapel for the funeral service; on the upper floor, community room, dormitories of the sisters, infirm women and sick women as well as the nurse's quarters; on the left, to the south, the men's wing with sacristy, schoolroom, administrator's office, bakery, dough bin, laundry; on the upper floor, accommodation for sick men and the infirmary attendant's room. A cemetery was laid out for donors behind the chevet (removed in 1846).