Osnivanje „Doma za s' uma sišavše“
Establishment Of The "Lunatic Asylum"

Summary/Abstract: The text is dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the institution for the nursing and treatment of the mentally ill (“Lunatic Asylum”) - 3rd March 1861. First, the development of the Serbian medical science from the Middle Ages until the first half of the 19th century is outlined. Religion-related medicine and monasterial hospitals played a significant role in that period. Some monasteries were almost specialized for the treatment of the mentally ill. In 1839, three incidents with mentally ill occurred in the Principality of Serbia, which led to a serious response of the authorities. The legal proposal that the mentally ill should be placed in the Studenica Monastery was not acceptable for the Mitropole, the church leader. A new legal project was proposed in 1861, passed on March 3rd - “The Establishment of the Lunatic Asylum”. This Asylum was placed in the so-called Doctor’s Tower. Both the institution and the building exist even today. Today’s Special Hospital for Neuropsychiatrical Diseases “Dr Laza Lazarevic” has developed from the modest “Lunatic Asylum”, and the Doctor’s Tower is still within the complex of the Clinical Center of Serbia.

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