Women's Hospital, History museum in the old town of Cádiz, Spain
The Women's Hospital, also known as Hospital de Nuestra Señora del Carmen, is a history museum housed in an 18th-century baroque building in the old town of Cádiz. The building has two large open courtyards, a three-nave chapel with marble columns, and a grand staircase that rises to an oval skylight dome.
The origin of the hospital goes back to the early 17th century, when a woman named Antonia de la Cruz began caring for sick women in her own home in the Calle El Pópulo neighborhood. The current building was constructed between 1736 and 1749, after Bishop Lorenzo Armengual acquired land and left funds to create a larger facility.
The hospital chapel holds a painting of Saint Francis by El Greco, one of the few works by this artist still kept in Andalusia. Visitors who enter the chapel can also see a series of Sevillian tile panels along the courtyard walls, each depicting a station of the cross.
The museum is located in the old town of Cádiz and can be reached on foot from most of the city center's historic sites. It is worth taking time in both the courtyard and the chapel, as the tile panels, sculptures and paintings reward a slow visit.
The grand staircase was completed by Jacinta Gutiérrez de San Martín, the sister of the original architect Pedro Luis, who was unable to finish the project. It is rare for a woman to have led a major construction site in 18th-century Andalusia, making her role an overlooked detail of the building's story.
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