The Hôtel-Dieu chapel
Our partnership, which took place in 2008 with Suzanne Marchand, former project manager in charge of the restoration of the Hôtel-Dieu chapel, consist in a voluntary help for welcoming the visitors as well as guided tours.
We take part in addition to the "Hospices Civils de Lyon" staff, so the chapel can be opened more regularly to the visitors at certain periods of the year, especially in Christmas week.
Please notice that all the donations collected during the visits and others events in the chapel entirely go to the restoration of this baroque art jewel.
A few words about the Hôtel-Dieu chapel
Built between 1637 and 1655 from the plans drawn by the architect Guillaume Ducellet thanks to the donations of the inhabitants of Lyon, this chapel is one of the three Lyon's baroque edifices with the Trinity chapel and the Saint-Bruno des Chartreux church.
Classified as Historical Monuments since 1961 with all the works of art it contains, the Hôtel-Dieu chapel had no other restoration works than its first in the XIXth century.
The architectural well-integrated neo-baroque decoration of the famous parisian decorator Alexandre Denuelle is hided by a thick layer of dust. The same applies to all the works of art, sculptures, paintings, as well as the XVIIIrd century pulpit and the wrought iron railings of the small lateral chapels. So it's the whole edifice which will be restored.
This large-scale restoration, which needs high technical skills craftsmen in many subjects, is ruled by Didier Repellin, head architect of the Historical Monuments.
To find out more, we recommend you these two french books :
- "La chapelle de l'Hôtel-Dieu de Lyon" written by Claude Lapras and Chantal Rousset-Beaumesnil - ELAH - 2002
- "La chapelle de l'Hôtel-Dieu de Lyon. Carnet d'une restauration", edited volume - ELAH - 2014