Site Map of a Quarantine Station

30-08- 1762, Zemun, today part of Belgrade, Serbia (Hungarian: Zimony; German: Semlin)

1 page, coloured drawing, manuscript on paper; 53 x 178,5 cm, scale: 20,7 cm = 55 Viennese fathom

National Archives of Hungary
HU-MNL-OL – S 12 – Div. XII – No. 29:3

The rate at which the Covid-19 coronavirus spread around the world reminds us how quickly and dramatically a disease can move beyond our control. The use of quarantine and social distancing to combat it echoed the ways in which humans have counteracted epidemics down through the ages.

 In the early modern times, quarantine stations at borders served to prevent the spread of epidemics from one country to another. The site map presented here is of a quarantine station (lazareto sporco) in the surroundings of Zimony, in the year of 1762. The location of Zimony was strategically important: it lay on the banks of the Danube, just opposite Belgrade. The settlement was an important commercial centre and customs station of the Habsburg Monarchy.

 The plan shows the new quarantine station, with buildings for disinfecting and aeration of goods, as well as accommodation for employees. A three metre high wall surrounded the quarantine area, cutting it off from the outside world. Anyone crossing the border had to be placed within this area. Everyone was examined. The examination checked for symptoms of the plague - limb and trunk pain, drowsiness, nausea, hoarseness, sweating. But it was also meant to gather other types of information, including general news, potential epidemic risks and any contact with people of suspicious behaviour.

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