User talk:82.159.37.166

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[edit] Welcome

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[edit] Lazaretto

Principal entrance to the lazaretto on Mahon
Principal entrance to the lazaretto on Mahon

Here is the text you added:

Spanish Lazareto in Mahon (Minorca)

In 1787 the Count of Floridablanca, the Prime Minister serving under Charles III, gave the order for the construction of a quarantine station in Mahón harbour (Peninsula of Felipet). The work did not start until 1793. The stones from the ruined fortress of San Felipe where then put to good use and ferried across the harbour to be used in the construction work. Work was interrupted, however, by the third British occupation of 1798-1802. Its delayed completion was in Í817, from when it was in full use until 1917. The' design of complex is attributed to Spanish military engineer Manuel Pueyo. Its size is due to the fact that it served the whole Spanish Mediterranean seaboard.

It was considered that all quarantine stations should have one land gate and two sea gates, the latter set far enough apart – one for receiving goods and one for dispatching goods. In Mahon, the gates are set apart and built in two differing styles so that they could not be confused. The small land gate at the eastern side was of no importance especially after the construction the San Jorge canal in 1900, when the Lazaretto peninsula became an island.

The double walls of the station vary between eighteen and twenty four feet in height and are almost one mile in length. As well as making it impossible to throw objects from inside or from outside, the wide corridors formed between the two wa1ls also facilitated the movement of inmates from one area to another in a restricted manner and out of contact with others.

The "lazaretto" is separated into various zones for crews and passengers, those merely suspected of disease and for those actually infected. There where four patents projected in the Lazareto de Mahon, the “clean patent” (which was never built) the “suspicious patent”, the “dirty patent” and the “plague patent”. Fresh water supply was provided by the several wells on the site. Vegetables were grown and some of the island's finest lamb was produced here. Cargo was not exempt from quarantine conditions and was laid out in the air to vent or put in special smokehouses to fumigate it. The tower from which the superintendent could view the whole complex, is due for restoration work this coming winter, it is built on top of high arches with baroque style sweeping buttresses.

One of the island prettiest features is its chapel. This is.1ike a tiny "templetto" 'and is raised on a stepped platform and glazed so that inmates taking Mass had good visibility of the priest across a strip of no-mans land from the surrounding circular cell-like, open and bar fronted stalls. The inmates were separated from one another and in turn were well away from the priest The Holy wine and bread was passed to the inmates on a very long handled shovel-like implement, in order to avoid human contact.

As well as the plague, the lazareto dealt with yellow fever, cho1era and other highly contagious diseases. The length of the quarantine would depend on the suspected disease, where the ship originated from and the time of the year. If a ship left the Gulf of Mexico in early summer, the time when the yellow fever was most prevalent, then on arrival in Mahón it would be quarantined until autumn. Autumn - winter departures required less quarantine period. All ships would leave the port of origin with papers stating the state of health of that particular port, being the ship and cargo bounded to this “patent” (Bill), and would be denied access to any port until they had passed through the quarantine process. At the end of the quarantine period the captain would receive a “Patente de libre transito” (clean bill of heath) from an officer in VilIacarlos, across the harbour, and thus alloying ship, passengers and cargo to end the journey in mainland harbours. Betwe1817 and 1917over 12.000 ships (sail and steam) anchored and half a million people passed through the gates. Several hundreds of them died, and were buried in the cemetery that still exists today.

The Lazareto complex is owned by the Spanish Ministry of Health and is used during the summer as a holiday residence for Spanish health workers and their families. There are also health related seminars held there, such as Public Health Summer School or EPIET Program, from the European Centre for Disease Control. It is also listed as the Spanish Isolation Complex in the WHO.

One of the beautiful warehouses is used as a Convention – Museum hall, houses many artefacts and implements, used together with copper boilers, fumigators, plus one of the first electrocardiograms produced in Europe. Also on exhibit is copy of a beautiful Royal barge (falúa) used by Queen Isabell II. This was rowed by twelve admirals of the Spanish Navy from the Royal ship t the steps of “La Mola” forteress for the royal visit in 1860.

Situated outside the main entrance is a statue of great poignancy. A man rising up and breaking the chains of illness that restrained him for so long. Engraved on the four sides of the plinth are the names of four prominent men of medicine and medical science: Louis Pasteur, Sir Alexander Fleming. Edward Jenner and the Cuban, Juan Carlos Finlay. It was the latter whose hypothesis that yellow fever was linked with the mosquitoes bite, was confirmed some twenty years after his work, in 1900.

The lazareto of Mahon not only helped stem the spread of various dangerous diseases in Europe but also dealt with major outbreaks of yellow fever in 1821 and 1870.

The quarantine centre closure in 7917 was in part due to the availability of new vaccines and medicines, but also due, ironically, to the existence of mosquitoes on the island.[1]

I suggest you wite a new article and link it to Mahon and lazaretto. --evrik (talk) 18:32, 26 October 2007 (UTC)