THE MISSING “NEW FLOOR PLAN FOR THE ROYAL HOSPITAL OF SAN LÁZARO”, A POSSIBLE PROJECT BY SEBASTIÁN VAN DER BORCHT

Abstract

This paper presents the hypothesis that the military engineer Sebastián van der Borcht drafted a project for the San Lázaro Hospital in Seville. The following shows epistolary evidence that this project existed and we confirm that this transformation finally took place through the formal changes produced in the building and the written documentation of the early 19th century, although we cannot prove whether the works were executed under the direction of Van der Borcht himself. This evolution of the leprosarium, of medieval origin, towards a healthcare hospital model with characteristics of the Enlightenment had never been described and brings new values to those already known in the oldest hospital in Spain still in operation.