5/07/2026. The Musée l’Hospice Comtesse in Vieux-Lille

An impromptu trip with some exciting surprises

Yesterday, I was working on a new post and suddenly I told my husband, I have to finally go to this museum in order to complete my post! So off we went to visit l’Hospice Comtesse.

If you love museums, you know that thrilling feeling when you finally see something in person that you have been looking at in books or online? The day was full of that for me. And I wanted to share some of it with you, especially in relation to former posts I have made here on the blog.

Painted in 1632, this is the only extant representation of the ward, or sick-room. In the background you can see the beds along the walls. Even though the original building burned in 1649 and was rebuilt, you can still make out the niches in the existing walls that once served as bedside tables for the sick.

First, a bit about the building itself. In 1237, the reigning countess of Flanders, who made Lille her home, donated the land for a hospital. She built the Hôpital Notre-Dame between her home and the church of St. Pierre, on the grounds of what had been her gardens. If you recall from this previous post, this church was the foundation of Lille in 1066 and the early castrum would have been her home.

The original buildings burned during the siege of 1648 but were rebuilt on the same footings. Of course, some of the stone walls survived, and the town took the opportunity to expand and modify the buildings at the time of reconstruction. The property was turned into a hospice in 1797, an orphanage in 1939. It fell into disrepair in the 20th century and finally revived as a museum in 1969.

The person I came to see was Jeanne of Constantinople, Comtesse de Flanders, who ruled Flanders for 39 years, from the age of 14, when her husband was imprisoned by the French King Philippe Augustus. (More one her in my next post) Here she is… and it was incredible to stand in front of these tapestries and paintings.

As I entered this room in the nuns residence, I noticed a little painting that seemed so familiar. This is the original painting of Jean de Le Cambe, who built the Hopice Gantois we visited here: L’hospice Gantois

And here is a wooden statue that was originally a part of the grand conclave hall or chapel that we visited here: Palais Rihour

Here we have a drawing of one of the many portes, or city gates, that once existed along the wall surrounding Lille. I’ve never come across this one in my research. The Ramparts of Lille