Hospital San Nicolás de Bari, Hospital ruins in Colonial City, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Hospital San Nicolás de Bari is a ruin of a former hospital in the Colonial City of Santo Domingo featuring thick fortress walls and stone floors. Its layout follows a cross pattern with several wings spread across two stories.
Governor Nicolás de Ovando initiated construction in 1503, making it the first hospital built in the Americas. It served patients continuously until the mid-18th century, when operations gradually ceased.
The building shows a mix of Gothic arches and Renaissance elements typical of 16th-century structures in Santo Domingo. Its walls and spaces tell of a time when European design traditions shaped colonial architecture.
The site sits in the heart of the old city and is easily reachable on foot, with clear access points and level ground for viewing. Visitors should allow time to walk around the exterior walls to fully appreciate the structure.
This facility served as a design template for later hospitals built across Spanish America, influencing how medical spaces were organized. Its floor plan and construction methods were copied by other colonial settlements, shaping medical architecture for generations.
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