The Hôtel-Dieu de Paris (French pronunciation: ​[ɔtɛl djø də paʁi]) is regarded as the oldest hospital in the city of Paris, France, and is the most central of the Assistance publique - hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) hospitals. The hospital is associated with the Faculté de Médecine Paris-Descartes. It still resides on the bank of the Île de la Cité, next to Notre-Dame, connected to the "Rive Gauche" by the pont au Double. Although the facility had been ravaged by disastrous fires on several occasions (the current architecture dates back to 1877). The two buildings of the facility were originally built in the 7th and 17th centuries. It was built as a symbol of charity and hospitality.