Hospital San Nicolás de Bari

The ruins of the first hospital in the Americas, founded in the early sixteenth century to care for the colony's poor and sick. Built in a cruciform plan of coral limestone, it operated for more than three centuries before hurricane damage led to its partial demolition. Today its surviving arches and walls form a protected ruin within the colonial zone, fenced and interpreted for visitors. The remains illustrate early colonial architecture and the transplanting of European charitable institutions to the New World.