Bedlam UK, London Resort
Rating: 8,5/10 (849 votes)  The word"bedlam" is familiar to every person, usually it means a situation of chaos, confusion and noise. However, not everyone knows that it became a household name from the name of the famous London landmark - the Bethlehem Royal Hospital, better known as Bedlam. Why did this hospital receive such an unflattering reputation? London Betlem Hospital is the oldest hospital for the mentally ill. It was built in the middle of the 13th century in an urban suburb near Bishopsgate. Then the building of the hospital belonged to the monastery of the Order of St. Mary of Bethlehem. In the 14th century, the monastery was abolished, and the building passed into the hands of the secular authorities of the city. A century later, the first patients appeared in it, and the name Bethlehem Hospital was reduced to Bethlehem, then to Bethlem, and then completely turned into Bedlam. In those years, mentally unhealthy people were not considered sick who needed qualified help. So the hospital then looked more like a prison, where beggars with mental disabilities were kept in humiliating conditions. Rampant patients were pacified with a whip, starved, tortured on all sorts of devices with dubious therapeutic effect. To provide food, some patients, marked with a special tin plaque on their arm, were sent to the city to beg for alms. It is not surprising that the death rate from such living conditions in the hospital went off scale. By the 16th century, the number of patients in the house of mourning had increased to 31. Finally, there were people who decided to end the abuse of the insane. They wrote a petition to the House of Lords called"A Petition of the Unhappy Mad Men of the House of Bedlam (concerned about the conditions of detention)." However, the lords and the king himself were at that time busy with power struggles. Therefore, no one remembered Bedlam until the era of the Restoration, when his building was reconstructed into a palace with a baroque architectural style. Presumably, King Charles II was distinguished by an extraordinary sense of humor, since the new refuge for the mad was oriented towards the building of the Tuileries Palace. The building was decorated with two sculptures -"Fierce Madness" and"Dull Madness." Despite the outward luxury, the conditions of the patients have not changed. Only since then did Bedlam begin to perform an entertainment function for the nobility. It was possible to get to the hospital for just one penny, which made it possible to observe the life of the insane. Many writers and artists turned to the Bedlam theme, in particular, W. Shakespeare himself in the play"King Lear." the social status of patients has changed. The hospital began to actively engage in science and now the Betham Hospital is a major scientific center. The old hospital building is accessible to everyone, now it houses a war museum.   The bullying of the insane only stopped in the 19th century, when psychiatry finally pushed away from its embryonic state and the social status of patients changed. The hospital began to actively engage in science and now the Betham Hospital is a major scientific center.The old hospital building is accessible to everyone, now it houses a war museum. The bullying of the insane only stopped in the 19th century, when psychiatry finally pushed away from its embryonic state and the social status of patients changed. The hospital began to actively engage in science and now the Betham Hospital is a major scientific center.The old hospital building is accessible to everyone, now it houses a war museum. We also recommend reading Museum of dolls and costumes in Finland, Tampere resort Topic: Bedlam UK, London Resort. |
