Sometimes when I have been to an exhibition, I jump onto the computer enthusiastically with ideas spinning around in my mind. Other times, there are questions to be answered and although the chapter is written over and over again in my head, it takes much longer to put it down in writing. Should it be said «typing»?
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| Val de Grace from my window this afternoon.... |
For years, since perhaps my childhood I have looked out of a window in our flat. Once upon a time my desk was at this window and as a student perhaps the interest was more in studying rather than a curiosity of what were the historical monuments in front of my eyes. Around 17, my Mother informed me
«oh that building is the Val de Grace and it’s chapel" This meant nothing. Chapels and churches of any kind where not high on my list of Parisian discoveries.
The years go by. I learnt later that the Val de Grace is the military hospital built in the 1970s and completed in 1979.The year I arrived back in Paris for good. It has a capacity of 350 beds, in various specialties. The hospital is accessible to military personnel in need of medical aid as well as to any person with health coverage under the French social security system. It is famous for being the place where the top officials of the French Republic generally get treated. Recently the Algerian President had spent three weeks there. When there are «important people» in the hospital we are never informed «where» they are residing within the hospital walls - to put it bluntly, what they are being treated for!
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The Benedictine nuns provided medical care for injured revolutionaries during the French Revolution, and the church at Val-de-Grace was spared much of the desecration and vandalism that plagued other, more famous Paris churches (Notre Dame was looted and turned into a warehouse; St. Eustache was used as a barn,....). As a result, the church's exquisite interior is one of the few unspoiled remnants of Paris's pre-Revolution grandeur. Following the Revolution, the buildings were converted into a military hospital.
The Church of the Val-de-Grâce is a former royal abbey in the 5th arrondissement of Paris where I live and is now part of the Val-de-Grâce Hospital. Construction began in 1645, and was completed in 1667. The church was founded by Anne of Austria, Queen Consort of Louis XIII, in 1621. The Dome is something that most Parisians would know at a glance.
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| The Chapel |
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| The dome inside |
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| Baroque alter |
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| Gate to Anne's residence |
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| Inside the chapel |
So after 50 years, why did I know a lot more? I had spent a week in the hospital in January, but apart from being in for a long run of tests, I also had a stinking cold and had not been able to get out into the grounds. I spent a lot of time questionning staff about the hospital history.
Last week I was there again for a further bout of pummelling and was permitted out into the grounds if there was a chaperon. A Dr friend filled the bill.
There is one of the mot beautiful small museums located in this historical building. It has been totally rebuilt and its permanent rooms have recently been re-opened. It shows the history of the French military medical service thanks to the presentation of its main missions, the medical evacuation. The other various components of the medical service such as research in war surgery and psychiatry, subaquatic and aerospacial medecine, or pharmacology are on display. Also to be discovered are the marvellous mortars and pharmacy pots used by the doctors.
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| Red Cross ambulance |
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| 2nd world war |
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| A special box of goodies !!! |
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| Customized boat hospital |
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| and the same for a plane.... |
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| Doesn't look comfortable at all... |
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| If you are missing an arm - this is a solution |
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| They went to the moon but did the mouse come back? |
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| a cartoon ..... |
I can assure you that I will not need to go back into «residence» to visit that museum again. «C’est une petite perle» as we would say.
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| Ajouter une légende |
We walked around the grounds and these directions came to my eye.
«Deliveries» «School» «Church» «Funeral Parlour» I remarked to Pierre
that everything was provided for in these beautiful grounds full or
roses even if the statues, modern as they are, are not the most
reassuring.
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| The seem to be strangling one another |
Helicopter landing pad
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| All staff in uniform in you please |
I guess there is on anecdote I could add. When taken to my room, the head nurse made the remark .....
«oh and this time around you are in the VIP room - but of course if somebody important comes in.....»
I thought she was joking. But no, I had taken over the Algerian President’s accomodation. But not again, if I can avoid it!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Val-de-Gr%C3%A2ce
I guess there is on anecdote I could add. When taken to my room, the head nurse made the remark .....
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