Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital

The name Pitié-Salpêtrière holds a dark secret from its origins in the seventeenth century. Before it became a world-renowned medical center, the site was a factory for the production of saltpeter, a vital ingredient in the manufacturing of gunpowder. King Louis the Fourteenth repurposed this arsenal in sixteen fifty-six to create a massive institution intended to clear the streets of Paris of what he considered undesirable populations, including beggars, orphans, and prostitutes.