LEPER HOUSES

Leper houses

In 1905, the last leprosarium, i.e. a special hospital for plague patients in Dalmatia, was built at the location of Pavlovača, not far from the city of Metković. It is also one of the last leprosariums in Europe. The complex consisted of a larger and smaller building, with a room for defecation, a garden where the patients grew vegetables, and a room where the local priest performed religious services, and its construction was financed by the provincial government at the time. It is known that the leprosarium housed eight people, some of whom were family members of the patients, as their companions, and a doctor who provided only formal care to the patients. The hospital was abandoned in 1925 and left to decay, and the life of the patients and the fear of infection is today witnessed by the tweezers of the Metković priest with which he administered Holy Communion to the patients. Also interesting are the graffiti on the interior walls of the ruined complex, bearing various names and love messages dating back to the period between the two world wars, and the name Leper House still bears witness to the existence of the leper colony today.