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You are about to visit one of France's finest and largest Hôtel-Dieu hospitals, which has been a listed historical monument since 2011.

It is a place whose name – hostel of God – invokes both hospitality and charity.

It is a place where, since the 12th century, the destitute and sick have been welcomed and cared for without charge. By taking care of the sick, Christ's suffering was cared for.

You can visit this exceptional complex in whatever order you wish. We do advise you though to visit chronologically starting with the oldest part of the complex, the Chapel, the cloisters and Cour Saint Louis, before moving on to the three 18th century courtyards and finally the Cour du Midi, dating from the 19th century.

Built on the site of the former medieval hospital, this Chapel is part of the first   Hôtel-Dieu. It was commissioned in the 17th century by two of its rectors of   Italian heritage, César Laure and Antoine Mey. It was a monumental complex   comprising a church and a hospital, which had four wings in the shape of a   cross with a central dome. The dome's summit can be seen behind the entrance   to the hospital.
In compliance with the principles issued by the Council of Trente, and like   many churches built at that time in Italy, France and Spain, the chapel was   inspired by the Gesù church in Rome. The Catholic counter-reformation   movement was strong in France. All the arts, including architecture, were   used in the spiritual fight against Protestantism.
As such, baroque Catholic churches reasserted the Church's power and   developed closer ties to the faithful. Churches were designed with imposing   facades, like the one before you, in the shape of the Latin cross with a   single nave so that worshippers could see and hear the services, a cupola,   and vast openings to let light in.
Works on the Chapel started in 1637 once the hospital had been   completed. Building took more than ten   years due to the plague, which killed the sculptor Guillaume Ducellet in   1639. The Church was finally consecrated in 1645, but its facade was only   finished a year later and was based on the design of another architect,   Pierre Le Muet.
Take a closer look at some of the details on the   facade. Can you see the large relief sculptures? They portray fruits and vegetables hanging   from the mouth of an animal on each side of the columns. The grotesque heads   above the capitals. The garlands of oak leaves. It was a way for rectors to   reaffirm their secular power and their taste for such ornaments.
For many years this chapel, attached to Hôtel-Dieu, was a place of worship   and prayer, especially for the hospital sisters. More than 30,000 children   born in Hôtel-Dieuwere baptised here after WW2, and some infants were even   used at Christmas as part of a live nativity scene.    

The Cour du Cloître, or cloisters, is the oldest and most authentic courtyard of   Grand Hôtel-Dieu. Not only can we still admire the 17th century hospital, which is virtually intact, but we can also see traces of the 15th and 16th   century buildings. It was then that the consuls of Lyon decided to build a   new establishment, just next to the dilapidated 12th century hospital. Its   design was very straightforward, like all medieval hospitals-- a large hall   for the sick, a church at the end and a cemetery alongside.
The courtyard you are standing in now was built on the site of the old   cemetery and the baroque chapel in the sick ward. We can still make out one of the walls,   above the south wall of the cloisters.
Stand in the middle of the garden and listen carefully. You are in the   centre of the city yet it is very quiet. The place is particularly serene,   not unlike the 400 year-old walls. All that you can see around you dates from   the 17th century: the dome, the arcades and the buildings around the   cloisters. The section was built in 1637 by the rectors of the Hôtel-Dieu.   The rectors were selected every 2 years from the city's wealthy citizens to   administer the hospital. The system lasted from the end of the 16th century   until the revolution in 1789. The Board Room where they met twice a week was   on the ground floor of this courtyard. The sick wards and wheat stores were   above.
To build the new hospital, the rectors chose a four-wing cross-shaped   design, four buildings connected in the centre by a dome, which you can see   if you look up. The design was inspired by Milan's great hospital, Ospedale   Maggiore, and was the most advanced for the control of contagious illnesses.   The men were separated from women and contagious patients separated from   those improving. Above all the central dome was an effective ventilation   system. Infected air from the sick wards was sucked up and discharged   outside. The dome was also used as a chapel where patients could attend mass   without leaving their beds. For in those days caring for the soul was as   important as caring for the body.
Now look at the windows of the wards on the upper floor. They are all 2 metres from the floor because the beds were aligned underneath. It was therefore possible to air the room without disturbing the patients.
In the southwest corner of the courtyard was the main entrance to the Hôtel-Dieu, used from the 15th to 17th centuries, then in the 20th century. A small carved stone cupola stands over the entrance. It was carved in the 17th century by an   architect named Delamonce and provides a magnificent perspective of the   four-wing dome.
Go to the cloisters to leave the premises and look at   the marks under the arcades. Each stonemason engraved the number of stones he   had cut that day so that he would be paid. Further along, on the right hand   wall, are plates with the names of the persons who donated money for the   functioning of Lyon's hospitals, both the Charity Hospital and Grand   Hôtel-Dieu.    

The Cour St Louis spans two periods in the hospital's history, marking the transition from the hospital of the 17th to the 18th century one. On your left, you can see the East and South of the hospital in the form of the cross, known as the four wings. On your right is the rear of the great facade   designed by the architect Soufflot. As you can see, the buildings from the   two periods are not on the same level. When the hospital was extended in the   18th century, the quays and the front of the building were raised to protect   them from flooding.
In the 17th century, the courtyard was a vegetable garden and it has always been one of the greenest in the hospital. A water fountain with pump was installed in 1825. A second, much older, fountain of this kind can still be seen in Cour Sainte Elisabeth.    

At the base of the Grand Dôme, the Cour St Henri is the main courtyard of honour and is without doubt the one displaying the architectural style of Soufflot at its most gracious. It dates from the 18th century, when the 2nd extension of   Hôtel-Dieuwas being built. The rectors, who were in charge of the hospital at the time, would have preferred to commission their usual architect,   Delamonce. But the consuls of Lyon, who were undertaking a vast urban redevelopment plan in the city, wanted to integrate the Grand Hôtel-Dieuas   part of the wider plan. The idea was to leave travellers with an   unforgettable image of the city. For travellers arriving in Lyon over the city's only bridge, Pont de la Guillotière, the hospital was the first thing   they saw. So the building had to have the finest frontage imaginable,   designed by a daring architect. Hence the choice of Jacques Germain Soufflot,   who was only 27 at the time and had just returned from Rome.
Stand near the columns and take in the entire courtyard.   Soufflot's plans were also used to build all this section of the hospital,   the great dome facing you and the two wings, on either side along Cour St   Louis and St Marie to the left, and along St Elisabeth and St Martin to the right. The facade bordering the unique complex is 250 metres long and   overlooks the Rhone. It is a masterpiece of neo-classical architecture. It was designed following the golden ratio principle, which, since antiquity has set ideal proportions as a source of   equilibrium and beauty. Prestigious visitors used to enter the hospital under   the great dome through the vestibule into the complex. We recommend you taking some time after your visit to admire the building's facade from Quai Jules Courmont.
Soufflot's innovative architectural plans are nevertheless faithful to traditional hospital layouts. The dome was not only a chapel where the sick could attend mass from their beds, it was also a ventilation system that sucked contaminated air out of the sick wards and expelled it outside. There was a shortage of space, so the sick were often lodged three to a bed in a confined atmosphere behind   curtains.
As the building was a place for caring for the sick and for prayers, Hôtel-Dieu is studded with religious references as you can see on the   windows to your right. In this wing was the refectory where the hospital   sisters, who lived on the premises, shared their meals in silence while one of them read from the Bible. Adjacent to the refectory, just behind you, were   the former hospital kitchens. As for the peristyle, this was designed by   Soufflot but only completed in the 19th century.    

In the   very centre of the 18th century hospital was the smallest courtyard, Cour   Sainte Elisabeth. Originally four identical buildings formed the courtyard;   one was replaced by a modern building. It was here on the ground floor that   the insane were housed, which give it the name the Loge des Fous. Remember   that during that period of history persons considered unfit civilians were   simply locked up, and this included those qualified as mad, who were sent to   the local General Hospital. The rectors of Grand Hôtel-Dieumanaged to obtain   the status of General Hospital for the Grand Hôtel-Dieubecause this meant it   was entitled to subsidies.
Demolished in 1936, the asylum was first replaced by a boiler room, which   was in turn demolished in 1984, when the local council connected the hospital   to the urban heating network. Entirely enclosed on its fourth side by the   contemporary building, Cour Ste Élisabeth has to some extent retrieved its   initial appearance.
Before continuing your visit, look at the covered   water pump fountain. Its square trough   was cut out of a single block of stone large enough to surround the entire   pillar. At one time each courtyard would have had a similar fountain.   Hôtel-Dieuwas like a town within the city. It had grocers, wine cellars,   fabric shops, linen services and so on. It was a community in its own right   where the religious hospital sisters and doctors lived 24 hours a day to look   after the sick. The rectors were the   only persons to live outside the complex.    

As the last 18th century courtyard, Cour Saint Martin houses one of the treasures of Hôtel-Dieu: the main staircase, or Escalier d'Honneur, no doubt designed by Soufflot himself. If you entered from Cour Saint Elisabeth, it is on your   left just after the passage. If you entered from Cour du Midi, it is facing you in the right hand corner. Look at the flights of steps and the   balustrades. They are masterpieces of   masonry and metalwork. It is the only main staircase in Hôtel-Dieuand provided access to the sick wards on the   first floor of the grand facade.
Go to the south of the courtyard, close to the exit. If you look north, you can see the entire series of courtyards in Grand Hôtel, almost 250 metres of   them. This perfect alignment is the   work of Soufflot. It is in harmony with the grand facade along the Rhone on   the outside of the complex.
The arcades bordering the courtyard   sheltered the sick and the staff from bad weather when patients were being   transferred from one building to another. They are made from a particularly   robust form of limestone known as Villebois stone and have remained intact   for almost 3 centuries. The upper floors housed the wards, which were   systematically placed high in the building so they would not be flooded. This   principle can be seen throughout the hospital: in the courtyards, the ground   floors were reserved for services and on the quayside for shops.
In the 1920s, the Hospices Civils de Lyon had to build barracks here to   house the paediatric services. This was particularly shocking because traffic   in the courtyard was heavy. The archway leading to the Rhone was the main ambulance entrance for Hôtel-Dieu.
This courtyard also used to house the statue of Amédée Bonnet who was one of   the 19th century's leading orthopaedic surgeons. The statue can now be seen in the courtyard Amédée Bonnet near the main entrance to Hôtel-Dieuon rue   Bellecordière.    

The Cour du Midi, situated at the southern end of the building, is the most   recent courtyard in Grand Hotel Dieu. It was built at the end of the 19th century by Paul Pascalon, after Soufflot, the second great architect of   civilian hospitals in Lyon. It marked the 3rd major extension of the hospital   after those of the 17th and 18th centuries.
Head towards the large door that leads out on to Rue de la Barre and look around the courtyard. It is hard to imagine that this area, which is now so elegant and lively, with its two floors of shops and glass roof, was once the   hospital mortuary. There was a funeral parlour, a hangar for hearses and a   stable for their horses as well as a dissection room, just opposite you.   Students from the medical school stayed in the right-hand wing of the courtyard for 40 years, so they just had to walk a few steps to get to the dissection laboratory. The families of the deceased and the hearses moved along the left wing of the courtyard, where the contemporary building now stands.
Like his predecessors, Pascalon wanted to have a dome overlooking the   courtyard - it can be seen through the glass roof. But contrary to the other two domes in the Hôtel-Dieu, his was neither a ventilation chimney nor a   chapel. It simply brands the structure with a historic seal. Indeed to build   it, Pascalon used the most modern materials available at his time, even if it   can't be seen from the exterior. For its frame, he used wrought iron exactly like the Eiffel Tower.
Before leaving the Cour du Midi, let's pause a   few moments to contemplate the contemporary building. In order to give back   Grand Hôtel-Dieu its appearance in the past, the modern architects Didier Reppelin and Albert Constantin have incorporated several references to the   past. The magnificent glass roof is a typical example. It reflects the one in   the arcade passageway, that used to be on the opposite side of the building.   An arcade dating from the 19th century housed several jewellers but unfortunately has since been demolished. The other contemporary feature in this courtyard is the construction on your left that replaces the former   entrance for the families. It was built in the same style as all the other new buildings of the rear facade of Hôtel-Dieu. These buildings close the   courtyards again to reproduce them and serve to redevelop Rue Bellecordière.