Charenton (asylum)

Charenton was a lunatic asylum founded in 1645 by the Frères de la Charité (Brothers of Charity) in Charenton-Saint-Maurice, now Saint-Maurice, Val-de-Marne, France. Charenton was first under monastic rule, then Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul took over the asylum after their founding. Although the town itself was the location of the headquarters of the French Huguenots in the 1500s and 1600s, the founders of Charenton were Catholic. At the time, many hospitals and asylums were Catholic institutions after the Council of Trent and the Counter-Reformation. Charenton was known for its humanitarian treatment of patients, especially under its director the Abbé de Coulmier in the early 19th century. He showed a remarkable aptitude for understanding Psychoanalytic theory. He used the technique of art therapy to help patients manifest their madness through physical art forms. Now merged under a new official name with the neighboring general hospital, the psychiatric hospital was known as the Esquirol Hospital (French: l'Hôpital Esquirol or Établissement public de santé Esquirol), after Jean-Étienne Dominique Esquirol who directed the institution in the 19th century. The 1845 structure's architect was Émile Gilbert.