Abstract
The development of institutional care for mentally ill patients in the countries of the monarchy is also connected with the creation of a regional institution for the mentally ill in Černovice near Brno. In 1863-1892 it was the only institution of this type in Moravia.
This modern facility was supposed to check the possibilities of institutional care for mentally ill people and its further introduction to the system of state-funded provincial treatment facilities and to replace the inadequate placement of mentally ill patients in hospitals and care institutions. The organization of professional matters was entrusted to Dr. med. Josef Czermak, since 1855 head of the department for the mentally ill at the Brno St. Anne Hospital. After a thorough study of similar facilities abroad, he prepared the documents for the establishment of a treatment institute for mentally ill patients near Brno and became its first director.
How did Czermak's vision of the institute's functioning differ from the established reality? How was the treatment financed, what were the costs of running the facility, the rules for the admission of patients, the methods of treatment, the daily schedule of the treatment centre and the social spectrum of the patients?
The paper also describes the beginnings of the Institute, its internal regulations, operation and management as well as difficulties with the growing number of patients and attempts to solve these problems that resulted in the creation of other such facilities in Moravia.