MEXICO CITY (AP) 鈥� In Mexico City鈥檚 bustling historic center, the Hospital de Jesus covers most of a city block. Its faded unassuming yellow facade, characteristic of the middle of the last century, obscures the medical center within founded 500 years ago by Spanish conqueror Hern谩n Cort茅s.
Entering between street-level shoe stores, visitors find the oldest continuously operating hospital in the Americas. Stone arches lead to expansive patios filled with lush vegetation.
The hospital was founded to treat , then later opened to the local Indigenous inhabitants to ensure a healthy workforce. Today it provides 24/7 emergency care, as well as affordable access to medical specialists for current residents of what was at the time of its founding the center of the Aztec empire.
鈥淵ou can feel the Mexican heritage here,鈥� said Dr. Pedro 脕lvarez S谩nchez. 鈥淔or 500 years, the hospital has never closed its doors.鈥�
On Nov. 8, 1519, Cort茅s and his soldiers entered Tenochtitlan, the Aztec name for the capital, and met Aztec emperor Moctezuma in a place known as Huitzilan, just in front of the present-day hospital.
Cort茅s had conquered the city by 1521, and to honor that original encounter, he founded the hospital in 1524.
The meeting of Cort茅s and Moctezuma is depicted in a floor-to-ceiling tile mural beside one of the central patios. The main temple of Tenochtitlan 鈥� only a few blocks from the hospital 鈥� sits in the background. The union of two suns represents the meeting of two cultures.
Cort茅s is buried in a small church adjacent to the hospital. Descendants of him and Moctezuma met here in 2019 to mark the anniversary of that initial encounter.
Around the world, only a handful of hospitals can boast such longevity. For example, St. Bartholomew鈥檚 Hospital in London founded in 1123 and Bellevue Hospital in New York City founded in 1736 also continue to provide full medical services.
Much of the hospital has remained intact thanks to a board of trustees founded in the 16th century. Over the years, countless doctors have quietly worked to conserve the hospital鈥檚 mission of affordable care and to preserve the building鈥檚 unique architectural features.
鈥淲e want to ensure that this hospital continues to provide quality medical attention to patients,鈥� said Dr. Octaviano Rosalez Seraf铆n, 71, president of the hospital鈥檚 board of trustees. 鈥淲e want to continue the tradition of care the hospital has had for years.鈥�
Celia Ch谩vez Escamilla, 56, arrived at the hospital at dawn recently for an appointment with her dermatologist. 鈥淗ere they take good care of us,鈥� said Ch谩vez. 鈥淭he prices here are accessible. If you go somewhere else it鈥檚 too expensive.鈥� Her consultation was just 400 pesos or under $20.
Escamilla was accompanied by her daughter Myriam Rafael Sanchez, 26, who was fascinated by the medical center. 鈥淚鈥檝e seen (the hospital) a lot in movies and TV shows,鈥� she said excitedly. 鈥淲e have all of Mexico鈥檚 history around us.鈥�
The hospital didn鈥檛 always serve the entire public, according to Sandra Elena Guevara Flores, an anthropologist focusing on medicine at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
Guevara said the hospital was not open to the Indigenous population initially, but only to the Spanish who had recently arrived in the Americas.
However, as epidemics began to spread, the hospital opened its doors to more patients. 鈥淚t was a strategy by the Spanish governors in the new Spain to treat the whole population,鈥� said Guevara. 鈥淚t (was) so the servants and the whole labor system wouldn鈥檛 die.鈥�
Early Spanish doctors at the hospital often used native Mexican herbs to cure their patients. 鈥淚t鈥檚 said that traditional Galenic Hippocratic medicine was used in the hospital, but really it was Indigenous medicine,鈥� said Guevara. 鈥淭hey (Indigenous peoples) would share their knowledge.鈥�
The Spanish imprint can be seen in the hospital鈥檚 architecture, said Hugo Antonio Arciniega 脕vila, a historian and archaeological expert from the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
The hospital, like some other colonial structures in Mexico City, is 鈥榚ncapsulated鈥� inside a newer building from the 1950s.
Because the Spanish built low stone structures on huge lots with massive stone walls, people who wanted to build newer facilities a century or two later would often just build over, around or among the colonial-era structures. Sometimes they would incorporate the old masonry walls into the new building, either for preservation reasons or because it was cheaper to use them than to tear them down. So from the street, there is often no sign that behind a Victorian or functionalist facade, there is a partially preserved Spanish structure within.
The hospital was built in the form of a T, with two large patios and a grand staircase devised by Spanish architect Claudio de Arciniega in the 16th century. The design provided constant ventilation and sunshine to patients. The architect also included a chapel on each of the two original floors.
鈥淭he architecture of this hospital is fascinating,鈥� said Arciniega about the intentional layout of religious spaces and access to open air. 鈥淚f you cure the soul, you can cure the body 鈥� it鈥檚 the same way the doctors thought.鈥�
For the 67-year-old 脕lvarez, who has worked at the hospital for nearly 50 years and also serves as the board of trustees鈥� treasurer, the center has been a constant in his life. He began working at the hospital as a lab assistant at age 18.
鈥淎 lot of people ask me, why do you keep working at the Hospital de Jesus?鈥� he said. 鈥淚 tell them because I love it.鈥�
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Mariana Mart铆nez Barba, The Associated Press
