Tuesday 26 January 2016

Petite France + syphilis...

Poetic, no? Although... The name Petite-France ("Little France") was not given for patriotic or architectural reasons. It comes from the "hospice of the syphilitic" (Hospice des Vérolés, in French), which was built in the late fifteenth century on this island, to cure persons with syphilis, then called Franzosenkrankheit ("French disease") in German. Wikipedia.

Poetique, n'est-ce pas? Or... Le quartier tire son nom de l’hospice des vérolés, construit à la fin du xve siècle pour accueillir les soldats revenant de la campagne d’Italie atteints de syphilis, appelée également le « mal français »

4 comments:

  1. Quite a history, and an artistic image.

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  2. Interesting and I love your picture!

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  3. I wonder why it's called the "French disease"? Did it originate in France? Also, may I ask do you post-process edit your photos to get that soft, dreamy look?

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  4. I had no idea the name came from there. Very interesting and very nice photo too!

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