1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Hôtel-Dieu

HÔTEL-DIEU, the name given to the principal hospital in any French town. The Hôtel-Dieu in Paris was founded in the year A.D. 660, has been extended at various times, and was entirely rebuilt between 1868–1878. One of the most ancient in France is at Angers, dating from 1153. The Hôtel-Dieu of Beaune (Côte-d’Or), founded 1443, is one of the most interesting, as it retains the picturesque disposition of its courtyard, with covered galleries on two storeys and large dormer windows; and the great hall of the Hôtel-Dieu at Tonnerre, Yonne (1338), nearly 60 ft. wide and over 300 ft. long, is still preserved as part of the chief hospital of the town.