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The treasures of the general hospital in Tonnerre

Louvois' grave | FLLL / CC-BY-SA
General hospital Louvois Marguerite de Bourgogne-Tonnerre Tonnerre hôtel-Dieu

Grave or bathtub?

We can see several graves, here, including Louvois’ one, king Louis XIV’s famous minister.

He also was lord of Tonnerre!

His grave was first in the church of Les Capucines, in Paris, ordered to the sculptor Girardon by Anne de Souvré de Courtanvaux, Louvois’ wife.

Look: Girardon represented her, by her husband’s side! Historians say she's like a kind of allegory of History, with her open book. Why not!

On each side, we have bronze allegories of Wisdom and Vigilance; the first one made by Girardin, the second one by Desjardins.

Desjardins was a Dutch artist who made Louis XIV’s statue for place Bellecour in Lyon… destroyed during the French Revolution! You know what? Napoleon I transformed the grave into his own bathtub, with the primitive green marble sarcophagus!

Marguerite’s grave

Here, we have the grave of the founder, re-made in 1826: the primitive one was destroyed during the Revolution, melted to make coins.

It was made by sculptor Pierre-Charles Bridan.

Marguerite holds the hospital’s charter foundation in her right hand. A woman seems to support her… maybe the Charity?

The Golden Virgin

The Golden Virgin, or the Burning Bush Virgin.

Where did this name come from? We can see the famous bush next to Moses!

The Entombment

A rich merchant from Tonnerre gave it, Lancelot de Buronfosse, in 1454.

Sculptors Jean Michiel and George de la Sonnette made it.

The life-size characters are made of white stone from Tonnerre.

The tradition says those two sculptors were disciples of the famous Claus Sluter, dukes of Burgundy’s usual artist...

About the the author

Vinaigrette
I'm fond of strolls and History, with juicy and spicy details!