Hospices civiles de Beaune

The Hôtel-Dieu was founded on 1443, when Burgundy was ruled by Duke Philip the Good (Philippe le Bon). Nicolas Rolin, the Duke's Chancellor, and his wife Guigone de Salins, reacted by deciding to create a hospital and refuge for the poor. The hospital (known as the Hôtel-Dieu) received its first patient on 1st January 1452. Elderly, disabled and sick people, with orphans, women about to give birth and the destitute have all been uninterruptedly welcomed for treatment and refuge, from the Middle Ages until today. Over the centuries, the hospital radiated outwards, grouping with similar establishments in Pommard, Nolay, Meursault and Beaune the Hospices de la Charité.