ParisTech

The name Salpêtrière traces its origins to the dark earth beneath your feet. Before this area became synonymous with medicine and academic research, it was the site of a royal gunpowder factory. The soil was rich in saltpeter, a vital ingredient for explosives, which gave the district its name. In the seventeenth century, King Louis XIV transformed this volatile industrial site into an immense hospice and hospital intended to house thousands of the city's poor, elderly, and infirm.