THE GENERAL HOSPITAL OF MADRID. THE ILLUSTRATED PERIOD OF AN UNFINISHED WORK

Abstract

The General Hospital of Madrid, a result of the grouping together of hospitals at the initiative of the Catholic Kings, was established at the end of the 16th century in several buildings located in what is now the neighbourhood of Las Letras. It would subsequently be permanently located in the spaces - which after numerous transformations which were never finished – currently occupied by the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (the Reina Sofía National Museum). Over the last three hundred years numerous people have established links between the hospital and the RAE – from the Marquess of Villena, the first academic director, to Gregorio Marañón, whose name today identifies the old hospital.