Médiathèque de l'Hôtel-Dieu, Former hospital housing a media library in Dole, France

The Médiathèque de l'Hôtel-Dieu occupies a former hospital founded in 1613, built in Renaissance style around a U-shaped courtyard with arcaded galleries. Its pale stone facade has a steep dark roof with dormer windows and a tower at the right end, and a balustrade above the ground floor. The building stands beside the Canal des Tanneurs, and a sign reading "médiathèque" marks the entrance.

The building was constructed in 1613 under Jean Boyvin's direction and operated as a hospital for more than 300 years. After the hospital closed in 1992, the structure underwent transformation and reopened as a media library in 2000.

The building's name comes from Louis XIV, who granted the hospital the title hôtel-Dieu during the 1674 siege of Dole. Care passed in 1663 to the Sainte-Marthe nursing sisters of the Hospices de Beaune, who took over from an overwhelmed governess and servants. The 19th-century military wing housed wounded soldiers of Napoleon III.

The building stands on the Canal des Tanneurs, near the Porte du Pont, and the sign "médiathèque" marks the entrance on the facade. The complex is arranged in a U around a courtyard with arcaded galleries, so allow time to find the municipal archives, the heritage library and the media library, which share the site.

The apothicairerie, where medicines were made and sold to patients and townspeople, keeps its blue walls with white panels edged in gold. More than 150 faience jars, bottles and pill boxes painted in blue on white by Jacques Coste's Dole workshop in the 18th century fill the upper cabinets. A pink Sampans marble fireplace carries a 19th-century relief of Charity.