L'hôpital Saint-Jean à Angers

Après le quartier de la Doutre, nous visitâmes (!) l'Hôpital Saint-Jean, que nous présenta Anne. Voici sa visite en anglais. En l'absence de lexique, n'hésitez pas à poser vos questions par commentaires ou directement à Anne.

History :

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At the origin of the hospital were three main characters: Henry II Plantagenêt, Etienne de Marçay, seneschal of Anjou, and the abbess of Le Ronceray, who gave grounds for the construction. The hospital symbolizes really the link between Anjou and England.

The hospital St Jean is one of the oldest hospitals in Europe still standing, it is very well conserved because it kept its original purpose for seven centuries.

This hospital is also a remarkable exemple of the architecture of hospitals in the 12^th c. Another exemple is the hospital Coëffort in Le Mans, also built by Henry II, and it looks like a lot this one.

This hospital is a masterpiece of the Angevin gothic. In fact it was built in 1175. According to the legend, Henri II decided the construction to expiate Thomas Becket’s death.

Thomas Becket was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 to his death. He engaged in conflict with Henry II about the rights and privileges of the Church. Henry II said this famous sentence: "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?", so four knights, followers of the King decided to assassinate Becket in Canterbury Cathedral. He is know considered as a saint by Catholic Church & Anglican Communion.

This story is told on one of the stained glass windows of the cathedral in Angers.

The hospital was built in a strategic place, next to the river Maine, a branch of the river passed just in front of the building (receive supplies and evacuate waste water).

The hospital had also gardens to produce vegetables and fruits to feed patients, it received donations from Henry II, from priests, from rich inhabitants, wealthy burghers of Angers, and it owned lands, rural properties, mills, vineyards which brought back incomes. It had also privileges, for exemple they have the right to trade the salt. And all this permited to have good amenities for the hospital.

So it’s a structure like a little city in the great city of Angers, it was quite autonomous. And it lasts for seven centuries, and in 1865, patients were transferred to the new hospital St Mary.

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The facade :

The facade is impressive and austere, strong, with heavy buttresses : it is made of typical stones of the area, schist (a very resistant stone) at the bottom, and tuft (a very soft one) at the top.

In front of the door : a covered gallery added in the 17^th c. There was a cloister, with the kitchens and lodgings; and in this cloister, there used to be a romanesque fountain for people to wash their hands.

The garden here was created in the 19^th c. when the branch of the Maine was drained.

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The cloister and chapel :

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