The Lazzarettos is a group of interconnected buildings located 300 meters away from the walls of Dubrovnik that were once used as a quarantine station for the Republic of Ragusa.
Republic of Ragusa was an active merchant city-state and was thus in a contact with people and goods from all over the world so it had to introduce preventive health measures to protect its citizens from various epidemics which broke out in countries across the Mediterranean and the Balkans due to poor hygiene. The time period between the 14th and 18th centuries was known as the most difficult time of plague and cholera epidemics in Europe and Asia. Given that the preparations for the treatment of various infectious diseases recommended by the doctors at the time, such as vinegar, sulfur, and garlic, were ineffective, people came up with the idea of stopping epidemics from spreading by isolating the infected.
In the 15th century, the quarantine facilities were moved from uninhabited islands of Mrkan, Bobara and Supetar closer to the city because the Ottoman Empire could have used them as a base for the attack on the city. Construction of a large lazaretto on Lokrum started in 1533, and was completed at the end of the 16th century. In 1590, the government started with the construction of the lazaretto in Ploče. The constriction was completed in 1642. It contained 10 multistory buildings connected by 5 interior courtyards. This lazaretto had five areas and five residential buildings for passengers who had to go through quarantine. From each side of the area where the houses for people were, there were the towers for the guards and the apartment for the Ottoman envoy who acted as a judge for Ottoman subjects who were visiting Dubrovnik.
With the construction of the lazarettos, epidemics were significantly suppressed with last breaking out in 1815-16. After the fall of the Republic in 1808, lazarettos were used for quarantine of merchants coming to Dubrovnik from the inner-Balkans, and later for military purposes. Lazarettos were damaged by fire in the second half of the 19th century and again at the end of the First World War. Following the first renovation, the arcades in the courtyards and the gates facing the sea were bricked up.
Today, the Lazarettos are used for recreation, trade, and entertainment.
References:The Château de Foix dominates the town of Foix. An important tourist site, it is known as a centre of the Cathars. Built on an older 7th-century fortification, the castle is known from 987. In 1002, it was mentioned in the will of Roger I, Count of Carcassonne, who bequeathed the fortress to his youngest child, Bernard. In effect, the family ruling over the region were installed here which allowed them to control access to the upper Ariège valley and to keep surveillance from this strategic point over the lower land, protected behind impregnable walls.
In 1034, the castle became capital of the County of Foix and played a decisive role in medieval military history. During the two following centuries, the castle was home to Counts with shining personalities who became the soul of the Occitan resistance during the crusade against the Albigensians. The county became a privileged refuge for persecuted Cathars.
The castle, often besieged (notably by Simon de Montfort in 1211 and 1212), resisted assault and was only taken once, in 1486, thanks to treachery during the war between two branches of the Foix family.
From the 14th century, the Counts of Foix spent less and less time in the uncomfortable castle, preferring the Governors' Palace. From 1479, the Counts of Foix became Kings of Navarre and the last of them, made Henri IV of France, annexed his Pyrrenean lands to France.
As seat of the Governor of the Foix region from the 15th century, the castle continued to ensure the defence of the area, notably during the Wars of Religion. Alone of all the castles in the region, it was exempted from the destruction orders of Richelieu (1632-1638).
Until the Revolution, the fortress remained a garrison. Its life was brightened with grand receptions for its governors, including the Count of Tréville, captain of musketeers under Louis XIII and Marshal Philippe Henri de Ségur, one of Louis XVI's ministers. The Round Tower, built in the 15th century, is the most recent, the two square towers having been built before the 11th century. They served as a political and civil prison for four centuries until 1862.
Since 1930, the castle has housed the collections of the Ariège départemental museum. Sections on prehistory, Gallo-Roman and mediaeval archaeology tell the history of Ariège from ancient times. Currently, the museum is rearranging exhibits to concentrate on the history of the castle site so as to recreate the life of Foix at the time of the Counts.