After the Crimean War, the Russian army took steps to improve hygiene in barracks, as during the war, many soldiers had fallen ill due to lung and intestinal diseases on account of deficient hygiene. Mortality among soldiers was extremely high, particularly in the fortresses such as Viapori, leading to changes being made to the principles along which barracks were constructed.

 

Deficient hygiene causes outbreaks of infectious diseases

 

During the Crimean War, the Russian units stationed in Viapori were plagued by high mortality caused by infectious diseases. According to the roll of dead of the Viapori Orthodox parish, 564 men succumbed to diseases in the fortress in 1855 alone. The most common lethal diseases were cholera, lung infections, typhus and dysentery. Such diseases suggested various bacterial infections affecting respiratory organs and intestines, caused by defective ventilation, general untidiness and dampness of the barracks, and nonexistent hygiene of lavatories.

 

Viapori was no exception; all the other fortresses in the Russian Empire incurred great loss of life due to infectious diseases. For example, in 1855 alone, the Russian units stationed in Turku lost nearly 1,100 soldiers to infectious diseases.

 

Standard drawings are drawn up for barracks

 

Starting from the 1860s, Russian authorities were woken up to the revolting untidiness of barracks and their lack of foul water drains and ventilation, leading War Minister Dmitri Miljutin to initiate extensive reforms in the army and navy. On the initiative of Engineer-general, Eduard Totleben, starting from 1864, the Chief Engineer Administration prepared drawings for barracks, hospitals, saunas and lavatories which were compiled to form the guidelines for barracks construction and incorporated in the Russian Military Decrees in 1873. Among other things, these guidelines provided detailed instructions for the room height of dormitories and waste disposal, and the location of lavatories, wells, saunas, canteens and barracks in relation to each other. Such reforms are still visible in the barracks built in the 19th century in Viapori; for example, the Jetty Barracks built between 1868 and 1870, including the repairs made to it later, provide an excellent example.

 

As knowledge of the propagation of infectious diseases increased, ventilation and hygiene requirements regarding barracks were developed. In the 1880s, a specific Barracks Construction Commission was established under the Russian War Counsel; this commission produced standard drawings which took account of the latest findings of medicine. Following these improvements, soldiers’ high peacetime mortality and morbidity was significantly reduced. For this reasons, the surviving material on Viapori contains a wealth of plans, structural drawings and profile drawings of barracks, wells, saunas and lavatories.