Hospital San Nicolás de Bari

Founded around 1503 and rebuilt in stone soon after, San Nicolás de Bari was the first hospital in the Americas, laid out on a cross plan with the wards arranged so that patients in every arm could see the altar at the crossing, a model borrowed from Renaissance Italy and repeated across the Spanish empire afterwards. It took its first patients in 1522 and worked until the middle of the eighteenth century; by 1908, when part of its facade collapsed, it was already a ruin, and rather than clear it the city left it standing. What remains is a set of high roofless walls and arches with sky above them and birds nesting in the gaps, floodlit at night and open to the street on all sides.

History

Construction began in 1503 at the behest of Governor Nicolás de Ovando, after whom the hospital is named, probably on the model of the Ospedale di Santo Spirito in Sassia in Rome; built on two storeys to a cross-shaped plan, with a central nave for worship flanked by naves for the sick, it could take up to 70 patients. It began operating in 1522 and served until the mid-18th century, and its plan became a model for other hospitals in Spanish America, among them the Hospital de la Concepción that Hernán Cortés began in Mexico in 1524. It was already a ruin in 1908, when part of its facade collapsed, and it is recognised by UNESCO as the oldest hospital built in the Americas (Wikipedia, Hospital San Nicolás de Bari).

Highlights

• The cruciform plan - the ward arms radiating from a central crossing.
• The standing arches - high walls open to the sky.
• The night lighting - the ruin floodlit after dark.
• Calle Hostos - the cobbled street it stands on.

When to go

November to April is the pleasant season. It is visible from the street at any hour and is at its best either early in the morning or after dark when it is lit. It takes only a few minutes, so it fits into any walk through the colonial city.

What to expect

You cannot go inside; the ruin is fenced and viewed from the pavement, which surprises people expecting to walk the wards. There is no interpretation beyond a small plaque. It takes ten minutes. Loose masonry means the fence is not going anywhere.

Nearby

The Zona Colonial surrounds it; the cathedral and Parque Colón are two minutes away.

Key facts