The official beginnings of open-air schools in Spain: Pedrosa National Seaside San atorium, (Santander, 1910)

Abstract

Throughout the last quarter of the 19th century, the struggle against tuberculosis intensified in all European countries as a means of protecting children who were in the curable and non­contagious stages of the disease. Different institutions began to be built for this purpose, such as seaside sanatoriums -with great presence and relevance in many European countries- in order to fight and destroy, as far as possible, the tubercle bacillus. In 1910 Spain opened the first institutions of this kind, funded by the State, in the old lazarettos of Pedrosa (Santander) and Oza (A Coruña). These places were converted into seaside sanatoriums for children with latent tuberculosis, who would be sent there by town councils, provincial governments, charity organizations and private individuals so they could undergo what was then called a “hygiene cure”, that is, fresh air, sunlight, sea, good food and rest. Added to all this was a program of education in the open air, which was perfectly compatible with the medical treatments required by their fragile health. The defining chara cteristic of this type of institutions was undoubtedly the perfect combination of medicine and pedagogy.