[Saint-Jacques de Besançon Hospital]

The first plan (1670) was carried out by Archbishop Antoine Pierre 1st de Grammont under the Spanish administration, with the aid of the Community Saint Marthe whose Congregation was at the start of a new monastic order and whose last members left Besançon a few years ago. At the beginning King Louis XIVth supported the building of the new hospital (1865) which was intended to shelter numerous soldiers like some other hospitals of the time. The main walls were ended in 1701 and the garden in 1702. The first patients were received in 1691. The cross-shaped Italian building is centred on a chapel and looks like many other buildings such as "La Salpêtriere" in Paris. It superseded the ancient medieval building "Saint-Jacques des Arènes" vowed to the travellers and pilgrims, the site of which was on the main crossing roads but on too small a space. The main architect was Canon Jacques Magnin, the material was found in the country and the gorgeous railings were forged by a local craftsman Chappuis. A local practitioner Gabriel Gascon bequeathed his sumptuous apothecary's shop. Some extensions of the building occured during the following centuries: a wing towards the garden, the "Couvent du Refuge" and its brilliant baroque chapel allowed the whole building to have a praise worthy chapel. At last the "Hôtel de Mont martin" initially built for Cardinal Granvelle was joined to the main hospital and became the Maternity Hospital.