AN INSTITUTION “OF IGNORANT TIMES” OR A “MODERN AND RATIONAL” ONE? ROMANIAN VIEWS OF QUARANTINES IN LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY
Études balkaniques (Sofia) 2025, N 3, pp. 659 – 681, DOI: https://doi.org/10.62761/645.EB.LXI3.06
Constantin ARDELEANU 
Institute for South-East European Studies, Romanian Academy / New Europe College, Bucharest, Romania
Abstract: In 1892, when an outbreak of cholera hit several European countries, Romania and Bulgaria remained free of the disease. Sanitary authorities in both countries imposed strict quarantine restrictions on the entry of passengers and cargo into their respective states. The economic cost was high, and the conservative government ruling Romania decided in early 1893 to relax the precautionary measures to facilitate economic exchange. Iacob Felix, a Romanian hygienist who headed the country’s sanitary service, advocated such measures, also encouraged by the Sanitary Conference in Dresden. The abolition of land quarantines in April 1893 was strongly opposed by some doctors, such as the bacteriologist Victor Babeș, who believed that the Romanian sanitary system was not prepared for such a measure. When cholera invaded Romania in July 1893, the dispute between the two camps became open, and adepts of both sanitary doctrines used Bulgaria’s more quarantinist policy to point out the shortcomings or advantages of land quarantines. Drawing on various published and unpublished sources, this paper outlines the main stages in the development of the controversy and contextualises Babeș’ inspection to Bulgaria within his broader view on the importance of land quarantines for states with an “imperfect sanitary system”.
Keywords: Romania, Bulgaria, cholera, epidemics, quarantines, Danube