Igienă corporală şi practici educaţionale. Baia în şcolile româneşti din mediul urban în a doua jumătate a secolului al XIX-lea
Body Hygiene and Educational Practices. The Bath in the Romanian Urban Schools in the Second Half of the 19th Century

Summary/Abstract: The text presents the school’s contribution to the dissemination and practice of hygienic rules. The study starts by analyzing the physicians’ and educators’ discourse regarding the social role of school hygiene, a discourse that foreruns the widespread use of baths in urban schools. The dissemination of the new hygienic rules was possible through a new subject: hygiene, school conferences and the popularization of knowledge. The second part of the article gives an overview on the practice of washing, in an attempt to outline a historical viewpoint on the subject. In the second half of the nineteenth century, the bath was more than a common act, as it is nowadays, and its generalization implied serious efforts from authorities, physicians and educators. The last part of the study demonstrates the transformation of the school space for the implementation of hygienic norms. The modern school building, with bathrooms or rooms for washing, allowed the applying of the new hygienic practice and contributed to a personal hygiene. At the same time, these modern school buildings were spacious, clean, light and airy unlike the old ones. The article claims no exhaustion of the subject, but merely a starting point for future discussions.

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