The building now occupied by the Franz Mayer Museum has a long history. For four centuries it functioned as a hospital. Over the last forty years it has undergone diverse modifications that have altered its architectural style, in order to grant it new functions. In the 1980's, interest grew in renovating the building and converting it into a museum. ● In 1582, Doctor Pedro López, the first doctor to graduate from the Royal Pontifical University of Mexico, founded a hospital in this building that had until then been used to weigh flour. The hospital attended to blacks, mulattos, impoverished Spaniards and the poor, including orphans. It was called the Hospital for the Helpless, which included a church dedicated to the Three Kings. ● At the founder's death in 1597, the hospital passed to his son, José López, who fought to keep it open with the aid of the Dominicans. ● In 1598, the Dominican Friar Fernando Alonso traveled to Spain to seek support for the hospital, and thanks to his efforts, in 1599 King Phillip III began to sponsor it. ● In 1604 the Brothers of the Order of Saint John of God installed themselves in the building, which became the Order's first hospital in the Americas, and whose fame grew rapidly. ● In 1620 a new era began for the hospital, with the construction of a church, hospital and a convent. The church's main altarpiece was inaugurated in 1650 and the infirmaries were completed in 1673. ● The seat of the novitiate was inaugurated next to the hospital, where the brothers were trained for the treatment of the sick and the foundation of other hospitals. In the more than 200 years that the brotherhood occupied the convent and hospital here, land concessions were given, constant extensions were constructed and diverse architectural modifications were made. ● On March 10, 1766 a terrible fire damaged the hospital complex and the tragedy was registered in a pamphlet. ● On March 8, 1800, an earthquake destroyed part of the complex, but thirteen years later it had been completely reconstructed. ● The Spanish Courts, gathered in Cadiz, promulgated the decree to suppress the hospital orders and in 1821 the brotherhood abandoned the building. ● By 1826, the few sick people who remained in the hospital were transferred to the San Andrés Hospital. ● In 1830, the nuns of the Teaching of the Indies used the building to found their school, and occupied it until 1834. ● The Sisters of Charity occupied the building in March 1845 and managed it until 1873. ● In 1865, during the empire of Maximilian of Habsburg, the establishment was used to care for sick prostitutes. ● By 1875 the Public Benefits Office had taken charge of the building, under the name of the Morelos Hospital. ● In 1914, the hospital's management transferred to the Junta of Catholic Ladies and a children's hospital was established, a dormitory for paper workers, an asylum for beggars and a “blood hospital.” ● In 1937 the building, then known as the “Women's Hospital,” was declared a National Heritage site. ● In 1968 it was used as an exhibition center for handcrafts, during the Olympic games. It sustained its role as a handcrafts center in a state of dereliction and illegal occupation. ● In 1981, the Human Settlements and Public Works Ministry –SAHOP- granted the occupation of the building to the Franz Mayer Cultural Trusteeship, managed by the Bank of Mexico, for the installation of a museum to house the collection of Franz Mayer. That same year the restoration and adaptation of the building began. ● On July 15, 1986 the Franz Mayer Museum was opened to the public.
· Ortiz Islas, Ana. Los hospitales de la orden de San Juan de Dios en la Nueva España. Siglo XVII – XVIII. Innovación editorial Lagares. México, 2004.
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