It is known that on March 16, 1538, the
Cabildo of Lima assigned two plots of land for the operation of the
Hospital of Nuestra Señora de la Concepción (located at the
Jirón Lima, next to the current
Convent of Santo Domingo). The narrowness of its environments meant that on November 21, 1545, the same council assigned eight lots for the relocation of the hospital in front of the current
Plaza Italia. This new hospital was called the
Royal Hospital of Saint Andrew and the transfer of patients and belongings took place in 1550, and its continuous operation began between 1552 and 1553. The hospital was also home to the first anatomical
amphitheatre in 1792; from the
Royal School of Medicine of San Fernando in 1811 and the first House of the
Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul. In the Hospital of San Andrés there was an area
dedicated to the care of people who had lost their minds, called the "loqueria", which operated until December 16, 1859, when all its occupants were transferred to the new
Hospital Civil de la Misericordia. The royal hospital continued to operate until March 8, 1875, when all patients transferred to the newly inaugurated Dos de Mayo Hospital. The premises then functioned as a convent of the
Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, and since 1929, of the
Daughters of Mary Immaculate. Later, part of the land ended up being converted into the current San Andrés Police Station (in front of the Plaza Italia), and the rest was used by the Óscar Miró Quesada School, until in 2007 the students were evacuated by Civil Defense, due to the risk of collapse. Since December 2009, the Charity of Lima manages the 5,000
m2 that remain of the 10,000 that the former San Andrés hospital had when it was founded in 1552.
Mummies There are several accounts from chroniclers that talk about the preservation of several Inca mummies, among these those of the
Sapa Inca Pachacuti in the spaces of the Royal Hospital. For example, in 1560,
Garcilaso de la Vega, a descendant of the Inca monarchs, visited
Polo de Ondegardo's house prior to leaving for Spain, describing the mummies in his
Comentarios Reales de los Incas. More references to the mummies are made in relation to the hospital in 1590 and 1638. Unsuccessful attempts to dig up the mummies were made in 1876 by and , as well as
José de la Riva-Agüero y Osma in 1937. In 2002 and 2005, efforts were carried out by the
University of San Marcos (with support from the
University of Chicago and the
National Geographic Society) that unveiled a colonial cemetery, among other things. An effort led by architect Edgar Santa Cruz and archaeologist Héctor Walde intends to turn the hospital as a museum of Peruvian medicine. ==Recent history==