Health | Donations to hospitals: when hospices were based on a will

From the sculptor Jules Cantini, who in 1916, bequeathed all his property, including 200 hectares of forest and 34 buildings, “on condition of building a hospital”, to Louis Salvator and his splendid property bequeathed in 1898, via Paul Double de Saint- Lambert and his countryside, Casimir Boreil-Plagniol and his property “Vert-pré”, without forgetting the sulphurous dancer Gaby Deslys and her sumptuous villa on the Corniche: in the 19th century, generous donors jostled at the gate to lay down the hospices of Maseille on their will (see our complete file). One of the most important bequests was that of Jacques de Matignon, former bishop of Condom and abbot of Saint-Victor who had donated no less than 120,000 books in 1725. Famous or anonymous,