Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital

The Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital is marked by the domed Saint-Louis Chapel, which rises above the surrounding limestone walls. It began in sixteen fifty-six as a gunpowder storehouse, or salpêtrière, before King Louis the Fourteenth repurposed the site to house thousands of the city’s impoverished citizens. Later, Philippe Pinel worked in these wards, where he famously ordered the removal of chains from patients suffering from mental illness. The site grew into one of the largest medical centers in Europe, blending architecture with psychiatric history.