Guided tour
The Salpêtrière Hospital

L’hôpital de la Salpêtrière

Built between 1658 and 1780 by most famous french architects such as Liberal Bruant, Louis le Vau, Antoine Duval, Germain Boffrand and Jacques Antoine Payen, the Paris hospital La Salpétrière belongs to the general Paris hospitals founded under Louis XIV. Designed by Louis Le Vau, the Saint Louis chapel is topped with a baroque dome, whereas the hospital buildings are typical of the French classical style.

The hospital was a place not to cure but to confine the needy women, disabled and insane women. A prison (prison de la Force) was added in 1680 to incarcerate the criminals, witches and prostitutes. Then, many orphan girls and prostitutes were deported to populate the French colonies in America : Louisiane and Québec. The insane women were incarcerated in poor conditions until the French Revolution when Philippe Pinel, a qualified medical officer expert in psychiatry implemented radical changes in the diagnosis of mental diseases. Then Jean-Martin Charcot established a new medical discipline, the neurology, and created the famous “Ecole de la Salpêtrière”.

La chapelle de la Salpêtrière

Usefull information :

– Meeting point : outside Saint-Marcel metro station (line 5).
– Duration : 1 hour 30 minutes.
– Guided tour in English

La prison de la Force

Important : your group must be formed beforehand.
We cannot link single people to a group.

Prices :

– group package up to 5 people : 100 €
– group package from 6 to 9 people : 120 €
– group from 10 people : 13 € per participant
– children less than 13 years : 8 €
– school groups or students : 10 € per participant (minimum 10 participants).
– a donation of 30 € is due on top by the group to the hospital in order to contribute to the restoration of the Saint-Louis chapel.