Hôpital de La Grave

History

Beginnings

Plague years

• After the first appearance of the Black Death in Toulouse, the city suffered a regular recurrence of bubonic plague over the next four centuries. Following a devastating outbreak, the ancient Hôpital de La Grave was enlarged between 1508 and 1514 and adopted the name Saint-Sébastien, a saint invoked to protect against plague. During the expansion, Saint-Sébastien sheltered the plague-stricken in a pavilion enclosed by a wall, in order to separate them from other inmates: beggars, foundlings, the disabled or terminally ill, the insane and prostitutes.
• A recurrence of plague, the deadliest of the seventeenth century, struck Toulouse in 1628. The elites, including physicians, began fleeing the town. The situation deteriorated to the point that the Capitouls brought four surgeons from Cahors to assist in treating the patients. On June 17 of the next year every plague victim in the hospital died. Those in charge took advantage of the situation to disinfect the premises.

  Rebirth