Tichileşti, Tulcea

Tichileşti is a leper colony in Isaccea, Tulcea County, Romania, having 22 inhabitants according to the 2002 census. Although officially a hospital, Tichileşti appears to be more like a small village.

History

Tichileşti was founded as a monastery, in 1877 becoming a leper colony.Roger Boyes, "Europe's last outcasts of a biblical terror", "The Times" 1 November 2003] A legend says the monastery was founded by one of the Cantacuzino princesses who was affected by leprosy. Another theory of the history the settlement is that a group of Russian refugees (see Lipovans) settled there and founded the monastery, but soon became outlaws who were eventually caught. [http://www.ziua.ro/display.php?data=2006-03-21&id=196153 "Ultimul lazaret"] , in "Ziua" March 21, 2006]

In 1918, for unknown reasons, a part of the lepers moved to Largeanca, near the Bessarabian town of Ismail, while the rest of them being allegedly killed and their bodies being burned or thrown in a lime pit.

Following a 1926 newspaper article by F. Brunea-Fox, a journalist who lived with the lepers for three weeks, a hospital was built in 1928 at the monastery. The houses and the central courtyard were built in the 1930s.

In July 1932, a group of 25 starving lepers from Tichileşti threatening to march to Bucharest entered the town of Isaccea demanding food, after the grocers and farmers stopped supplying them food because the government did not pay them for a long time. The Isacceans barred their houses until the military escorted the lepers back to their colony. ["Starving Lepers Invade Town and Terror Rules", in "The Washington Post", July 4, 1932]

Initially, the lepers were not allowed to leave the colony, but even after 1991, when the things changed, many of them, having lived most of their lives continued living there. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1639335.stm "Europe's last leper colony lives on"] , BBC, November 6 2001]

Some things changed in the 2000s, as some European Union funds came to Tichileşti and they were able to install bathrooms, refrigerators, satellite television and put air-conditioner in the canteen.

Demographics

The last case of leprosy in Romania was diagnosed in 1981 and the age of the patients in Tichileşti ranges between 37 and 90 [ [http://www.rferl.org/features/2003/06/20062003153807.asp "Romania: Despite Years Of Illness And Neglect, Lepers Still Have A Place To Call Home"] , RFE/RL, November 2002] , most them having an age of more than 60 years. In Tichileşti there are two churches, one Orthodox and one Baptist.

A cure for leprosy has been known for a long time, the disease was too advanced for these people who live in Tichileşti and they were not cured, but it only made it no longer contagious. [Justin Huggler, " [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20010106/ai_n9663813 In foreign parts: Tichilesti - Last lepers in Europe share out"] , in "The Independent" January 6, 2001]

Population

*1930: 200 ["Leprozeria de la Tichilesti iese din izolare" in "Averea" 7 July 2005]
*1998: 39
*2002: 22

References

External links

*IMDB: [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0488735/ Geschichten aus dem Lepratal] , a 2002 German documentary about the village.
*IMDB: [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1032191/ Hudiceva kolonija (Devil's Colony)] , a 2006 Slovenian documentary about the village.