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Photos: Historic French quarantine isles relive the past amid lockdown

Amid France's confinement measures meant to break the chain of transmission for the novel coronavirus, a sense of history seems to be repeating itself among residents of France’s Frioul archipelago. The Mediterranean islands off the southern port city of Marseille once served as a quarantine centre during epidemics in centuries past, helping shield the French mainland from infection. Emptied out and left to their bare minimum, a semblance of the past has emerged once again.

Updated on: Apr 27, 2020 8:09 PM IST

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The Frioul archipelago is pictured from a ferry boat on the Marseille coastline. On the Mediterranean islands, there’s an eerie sense that history is repeating itself. The islands -- four kilometers off the teeming port city of Marseille served as a quarantine centre during deadly epidemics in centuries past, helping shield the French mainland from infection. (Daniel Cole / AP)

Updated on Apr 27, 2020 8:09 PM

The Frioul archipelago is pictured from a ferry boat on the Marseille coastline. On the Mediterranean islands, there’s an eerie sense that history is repeating itself. The islands -- four kilometers off the teeming port city of Marseille served as a quarantine centre during deadly epidemics in centuries past, helping shield the French mainland from infection. (Daniel Cole / AP)

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Frioul’s only nurse, Patrick Tellier points to the ancient quarantine port on the Pomegues island meant for sailors arriving to Marseille on a 19th century map of Frioul hanging on the site of the ancient quarantine hospital of Caroline. (Daniel Cole / AP)

Updated on Apr 27, 2020 8:09 PM

Frioul’s only nurse, Patrick Tellier points to the ancient quarantine port on the Pomegues island meant for sailors arriving to Marseille on a 19th century map of Frioul hanging on the site of the ancient quarantine hospital of Caroline. (Daniel Cole / AP)

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A ferry boat crew member stretches on the deserted Frioul port before departing for Marseille. Now, amid the coronavirus lockdown and with no tourists, the islands’ few residents again feel cut off, left to fend largely for themselves. (Daniel Cole / AP)

Updated on Apr 27, 2020 8:09 PM

A ferry boat crew member stretches on the deserted Frioul port before departing for Marseille. Now, amid the coronavirus lockdown and with no tourists, the islands’ few residents again feel cut off, left to fend largely for themselves. (Daniel Cole / AP)

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The Marseille coastline seen from an abandoned armoury bunker in the Fort of Ratonneau. “We are not experiencing quite the same quarantine as Frioul has seen in its past, but people are definitely afraid of this virus,” Patrick Tellier, the only nurse on the archipelago that once housed sick crews during the Great Plague of Marseille in 1720 and in 1821 during a yellow fever epidemic, told AP. (Daniel Cole / AP)

Updated on Apr 27, 2020 8:09 PM

The Marseille coastline seen from an abandoned armoury bunker in the Fort of Ratonneau. “We are not experiencing quite the same quarantine as Frioul has seen in its past, but people are definitely afraid of this virus,” Patrick Tellier, the only nurse on the archipelago that once housed sick crews during the Great Plague of Marseille in 1720 and in 1821 during a yellow fever epidemic, told AP. (Daniel Cole / AP)

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An abandoned building on Ratonneau island in Frioul. Tellier runs a health care centre for the residents out of a small sailboat. Pills and blood sample kits fill its nooks and crannies. (Daniel Cole / AP)

Updated on Apr 27, 2020 8:09 PM

An abandoned building on Ratonneau island in Frioul. Tellier runs a health care centre for the residents out of a small sailboat. Pills and blood sample kits fill its nooks and crannies. (Daniel Cole / AP)

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Patrick Tellier rides his scooter towards the port of Frioul. Now retired, he spent his nursing career working in Africa and in Marseille, where he helped set up a medical centre for underprivileged families. (Daniel Cole / AP)

Updated on Apr 27, 2020 8:09 PM

Patrick Tellier rides his scooter towards the port of Frioul. Now retired, he spent his nursing career working in Africa and in Marseille, where he helped set up a medical centre for underprivileged families. (Daniel Cole / AP)

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Seagulls perch on a handrail atop the deserted Fort of Ratonneau. Only seagulls now visit the ancient bollards where quarantined ships used to moor. France’s nationwide lockdown, which began March 17, has strangled the flow of tourists usually drawn by the archipelago’s history, quaint beachfronts and wild hills. (Daniel Cole / AP)

Updated on Apr 27, 2020 8:09 PM

Seagulls perch on a handrail atop the deserted Fort of Ratonneau. Only seagulls now visit the ancient bollards where quarantined ships used to moor. France’s nationwide lockdown, which began March 17, has strangled the flow of tourists usually drawn by the archipelago’s history, quaint beachfronts and wild hills. (Daniel Cole / AP)

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A boat sits atop a hill on the Frioul Archipelago during France’s confinement measures meant to stop the spread of the new coronavirus. (Daniel Cole / AP)

Updated on Apr 27, 2020 8:09 PM

A boat sits atop a hill on the Frioul Archipelago during France’s confinement measures meant to stop the spread of the new coronavirus. (Daniel Cole / AP)

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Rusted fish sculptures hang on the wall of a closed restaurant in the port of Frioul. Anthony Fabre runs the archipelago’s only food shop. “We are a closed-off population,” Fabre told AP. “I can give people the supplies they need so they don’t have to go to the mainland and risk getting sick.” (Daniel Cole / AP)

Updated on Apr 27, 2020 8:09 PM

Rusted fish sculptures hang on the wall of a closed restaurant in the port of Frioul. Anthony Fabre runs the archipelago’s only food shop. “We are a closed-off population,” Fabre told AP. “I can give people the supplies they need so they don’t have to go to the mainland and risk getting sick.” (Daniel Cole / AP)

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People sit along Marseille’s Old Port during the lockdown. “If you think about it, we are just reliving our past,” Fabre told AP. “We had the yellow fever exactly 200 years ago.” (Daniel Cole / AP)

Updated on Apr 27, 2020 8:09 PM

People sit along Marseille’s Old Port during the lockdown. “If you think about it, we are just reliving our past,” Fabre told AP. “We had the yellow fever exactly 200 years ago.” (Daniel Cole / AP)

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