CITY OF MEXICO (AP) The Hospital de Jesus occupies the majority of a city block in Mexico City’s busy historic district. The medical institution within, established 500 years ago by Spanish conqueror Hernán Corts, is hidden by its fading, simple yellow facade, typical of the middle of the past century.
The oldest continually operational hospital in the Americas is located between shoe businesses on the street. Large patios with luxuriant greenery are accessible by stone arches.
In order to maintain a healthy workforce, the hospital was first established to treat the conquering Spanish before opening to the indigenous Indigenous population. Today, it offers residents of what was once the Aztec empire’s center 24/7 emergency treatment as well as reasonably priced access to medical professionals.
This place has a strong Mexican background, according to Dr. Pedro Lvarez Snchez. The hospital has been open for business for 500 years.
On November 8, 1519, Corts and his army arrived in Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, and met Moctezuma, the Aztec emperor, at Huitzilan, which is located directly in front of the hospital today.
By 1521, Corts had taken control of the city, and in 1524, he established the hospital in remembrance of that first meeting.
Beside one of the major patios is a floor-to-ceiling tile painting that depicts the meeting of Cort and Moctezuma. In the background is Tenochtitlan’s main temple, which is only a few blocks away from the hospital. The merging of two cultures is symbolized by the fusion of two suns.
The modest church next to the hospital is where Cort’s is buried. In 2019, his descendants gathered here to commemorate the anniversary of that first meeting with Moctezuma.
Only a small number of hospitals worldwide can make this claim. For instance, Bellevue Hospital in New York City, established in 1736, and St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, established in 1123, both still offer comprehensive medical services.
A board of trustees established in the 16th century has kept a large portion of the hospital intact. Numerous medical professionals have diligently worked over the years to uphold the hospital’s aim of providing inexpensive care while also protecting the building’s distinctive architectural characteristics.
The 71-year-old president of the hospital’s board of trustees, Dr. Octaviano Rosalez Seraf, stated, “We want to make sure that this hospital continues to provide high-quality medical attention to patients.” We wish to carry on the long-standing legacy of care at the hospital.
Recently, 56-year-old Celia Ch aña Escamilla arrived at the hospital early daybreak for a dermatology appointment. “They take good care of us here,” Chvez stated. The costs are reasonable here. It’s too costly if you go somewhere else. The cost of the consultation was about 400 pesos, or less than $20.
Escamilla was joined by her 26-year-old daughter, Myriam Rafael Sanchez, who was enthralled with the medical facility. She said, “I’ve seen (the hospital) a lot in movies and TV shows.” The history of Mexico is all around us.
Sandra Elena Guevara Flores, a medical anthropologist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, claims that the hospital didn’t always serve the general population.
According to Guevara, the hospital was previously solely accessible to Spanish immigrants who had just arrived in the Americas, not to the Native American inhabitants.
Nevertheless, the hospital welcomed additional patients as epidemics started to spread. Guevara claimed that treating the entire population was a tactic used by the Spanish administrators in the new Spain. It (was) to prevent the death of the servants and the entire labor system.
Native Mexican plants were frequently used by the hospital’s early Spanish physicians to treat their patients. According to Guevara, the hospital’s usage of classic Galenic Hippocratic medicine was actually Indigenous medicine. Indigenous peoples would impart their expertise to others.
According to historian and archaeologist Hugo Antonio Arciniega Vila of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the hospital’s architecture bears the Spanish influence.
The hospital is housed in a more recent building from the 1950s, much like some other colonial buildings in Mexico City.
People who intended to construct new facilities a century or two later would frequently simply build over, around, or amid the colonial-era structures because the Spanish erected low stone structures on enormous lots with enormous stone walls. Sometimes, either for preservation purposes or because it was less expensive to use the old masonry walls rather than demolish them, they would incorporate them into the new structure. Therefore, it is frequently unknown from the street that a largely restored Spanish building lies beneath a Victorian or functionalist exterior.
Designed by Spanish architect Claudio de Arciniega in the 16th century, the hospital was constructed in the shape of a T and had two spacious patios as well as a grand stairway. Patients were constantly exposed to sunlight and ventilation because to the design. On each of the two original stories, the architect also incorporated a chapel.
“This hospital’s architecture is fascinating,” Arciniega observed, referring to the thoughtful arrangement of the religious areas and the outside access. The doctors believed that healing the soul would also heal the physical.
The center has been a constant in the life of 67-year-old Lvarez, who has been employed at the hospital for almost 50 years and is also the treasurer of the board of trustees. At the age of 18, he started working as a lab assistant at the hospital.
I am frequently asked why I continue to work at the Hospital de Jesus. “I said.” I adore it, so I tell them.
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