Musée Flaubert d'Histoire de la Médecine
About This Museum
Tucked away in Rouen, this isn't your typical museum; it's a peculiar and wonderful place where French literature and the sometimes grim history of medicine collide. You'll find it in the old Hôtel-Dieu hospital, right where Gustave Flaubert's father served as chief surgeon. The heart of the place is the very room where the author of 'Madame Bovary' was born, preserved with his family's own furniture. Then you turn a corner and are faced with an array of startling medical instruments from the 18th and 19th centuries. It’s a deeply personal look at both a famous family and the medical world they inhabited.
Collection Highlights
The centerpiece is Flaubert's birthroom, complete with his mother's harp and their original furnishings. But don't miss the bizarre and fascinating medical collection, which includes a sinister-looking artificial leech device and an enormous, beautifully crafted wooden teaching model of a pregnant uterus.
Visitor Information
It feels like stepping into a secret. Give yourself an hour to wander through the intimate rooms—it’s a small museum but packed with character. Just check their website for opening times before you go, as they can be a bit particular.
Architecture & Building
Housed in a former 18th-century hospital building, it has that sober, classical French administrative feel from the outside, but inside you'll find creaky wooden floors and rooms that still very much feel like part of an old medical ward.
Contact & Location
Address: Musée Flaubert - Histoire de la Médecine, 51, Rue de Lecat, Mont-Riboudet, Quartier Pasteur, Rouen, Seine-Maritime, Normandie, France métropolitaine, 76000, France
Phone: +33 2 76 30 39 90
