Besides wine, the town of Beaune in the Burgundy region of France, is most famous for a roof. Built in 1443 as a hospital for the poor by Duke Philip, known as “The Good”, the HÔtel-Dieu des Hospices de Beaune continued caring for people of the community until 1970.
The building, with its beautiful 4-color glazed tile roof, is an amalgam of Flemish and Burgundian gothic architecture and contains, among its many rooms, an 18th century pharmacy and Rogier van der Weyden’s large multi-paneled alterpiece, ‘The Last Judgement,’ commissioned for the chapel (c. 1445-1450). The large room with the red-curtained beds measures 50 x 14 x 16 meters and is called the Room of the Poors.
