Hôtel-Dieu de Baugé, former hospital in Baugé, Baugé-en-Anjou, France

The Hôtel-Dieu de Baugé is a former hospital building dating to the 1600s with interconnected rooms that once served patients and the religious community. It contains an apothecary with more than 650 ceramic and glass containers, a ward with wooden beds, a baroque chapel, a kitchen, and living quarters for the sisters.

The Hôtel-Dieu was founded in 1643 by Marthe de la Beausse and Anne de Melun, princess of Flanders. Its apothecary was equipped in 1675 and run for three centuries by apothecary sisters of the Saint Joseph community, remaining active into the 1940s. The building was inscribed as a monument historique in 1990 and classified in 1993.

The name hôtel-Dieu, "God's hostel", marks a hospital run by a religious community. From 1675 the apothecary was kept for three centuries by apothecary sisters of the Hospitalières de Saint-Joseph, still working in the 1940s. A permanent exhibition, "Des soins du corps aux soins de l'âme", recalls the life of the founder, Mlle de Melun, and of the sisters.

The Hôtel-Dieu stands in the bourg of Baugé, in the commune of Baugé-en-Anjou, Maine-et-Loire. The permanent exhibition "Des soins du corps aux soins de l'âme" and the apothecary are reached inside the building, so allow time to move between the wards, chapel and pharmacy rooms. Check opening times before setting out, as they change with the season.

The apothecary holds strange medicinal substances like dragon's blood and powder made from insects, revealing how different medicine once was. These preserved collections show visitors how foreign the healing practices of earlier times seem from a modern perspective.