Step 8
Nods Gate,
Hospital and School
This gate is located opposite the postern which was near the church. Originally, it was called the door of the fountain of Nods, it has lost its aliasing but has kept the traces of its drawbridge with spiers, it was flanked by an outer tower, partially demolished in 1830, when the layout of the seminar. We notice an obstructed gunboat.
The Ste-Barbe Hospital, located to the right of the door, was founded in 1481 by Pierre Courdier, with the consent of Hugues de Chalon-Arlay and Loyse de Savoie, his wife. It is distinguished by its 16th century bell tower and a door giving access to the chapel, finely carved in a flamboyant ogival style which comes from the main entrance to the castle. The hospital was ruined in 1639, during the invasion of Franche-Comté by the French. Partially rebuilt at the end of the 17th century, it was rebuilt in the middle of the 18th century, giving it its current appearance. Its vocation was to welcome the sick of the town and, moreover, to receive the poor pilgrims. The service was provided by hospital nuns until 1983, then by civilians until 2013, when she was transferred to the new nursing home.
Opposite the hospital was the 16th century school of Canon Gilbert Cousin, known as the gymnasium. In 1811, an ecclesiastical secondary school or minor seminary was established on its site, it was enlarged in 1830, and had more than 100 students. Among them, Blessed Pierre-François Néron, intellectual martyred in Tonkin in 1860 and Xavier Marmier, writer, member of the French Academy.
The chapel was built in 1875. In 1928, the Assumptionist congregation took over until the middle of the 20th century. It is a new place of primary study, since 1969 which occupies this site steeped in history, the private school « Neige et Sapins ».
Explication : Explanation: gymnasium: secondary school.