Bicêtre Hospital

Bicêtre Hospital, near Paris (78, rue du Général Leclerc, Le Kremlin-Bicêtre) was originally planned as a military hospital, which construction begun in 1634. With the help of saint Vincent de Paul, it was finally opened as an orphanage in 1642. It was incorporated into the Hôpital Général in 1656. In 1823, it was called the Hospice de la Vieillesse Hommes. Only in 1885, it was renamed the Hospice de Bicêtre. In its history it has been used successively and simultaneously as an orphanage, a prison, a lunatic asylum, and a hospital. The Bicêtre is most famous as the Asylum de Bicêtre where Superintendent Philippe Pinel is credited as being the first to introduce humane methods into the treatment of the mentally ill, in 1793¹.

The main entrance