Blog der Hauptbibliothek

Heinrich Wettstein (1831-1895), a teacher and member of the department of education in Zurich, developed numerous text books for various branches of the natural sciences and was involved in the creation of a new school atlas. Johannes Randegger (1830-1900) from Winterthur came from a poor background. Thanks to his great talent for drawing, he was […]

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Prof. Dr. Flurin Condrau is a medical historian at the University of Zurich. He wrote his dissertation on the social history of tuberculosis sanatoriums and has since published on various aspects of the history of tuberculosis. Prof. Dr. Flurin Condrau was interviewed by Ursula Reis, subject specialist for medical history at the Main Library – […]

Fortsetzung

The Prussian officer, geographer and cartographer Emil von Sydow (1812-1873) had a great interest in colour lithography for wall maps. The colours green for the lowlands (meadows), brown for mountains (rocks) as well as black for text and lines were his invention. Later, blue was added for water. He produced numerous maps, many of them […]

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Open-air treatment in a luxury sanatoriumFor decades, sanatorium treatment in mountain climates was regarded as the standard therapy for pulmonary tuberculosis. In Davos, the physician Alexander Spengler began to offer altitude therapies in the 1860s. Within a few years, the mountain village developed into a flourishing health resort. Luxury sanatoriums – such as those described […]

Fortsetzung

The Winterthur born Swiss cartographer Jakob Melchior Ziegler (1801-1883) studied in Geneva under Guillaume Henri Dufour, the creator of the well-known Dufour map. In 1842, Ziegler, together with lithographer and cartographer Johann Ulrich Wurster (1814–1880), founded a very successful cartographic institution with publishing house in Winterthur. Ziegler produced numerous maps of excellent quality, including topographic […]

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The cultural anthropologist and medical historian Prof. Dr. Eberhard Wolff is a research assistant in Popular Cultures at the University of Zurich. In 2010 he curated the exhibition “Zauberberge: die Schweiz als Kraftraum und Sanatorium” at the Landesmuseum in Zurich. Ursula Reis, subject specialist for history in medicine in the Main Library – Medicine Careum, […]

Fortsetzung

The map shown in the exhibition is of northeastern Germany. The borders of the different parts are clearly marked in this map. Other parts of the world were not as well known, explored or surveyed at that time. In the map of Africa, for example, the borders of the different countries are only indicated at […]

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Spa resorts with international reputation The great period of the Swiss spas was the so-called Belle Époche, the last three or four decades before the First World War. First-rate spas such as Bad Ragaz, St. Moritz and Schuls-Tarasp-Vulpera followed the fashionable foreign examples. As in Baden-Baden, Marienbad or Vichy, representative drinking halls, baths and spa […]

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Austrian cartographer and writer Franz Johann Joseph von Reilly (1766-1820) began work on his extensive Schauplatz der fünf Theile der Welt in 1789, but had to abandon it in 1806 due to the Napoleonic Wars. The atlas therefore only covers Europe, but with 830 sheets, it is one of the most extensive atlases. Von Reilly’s […]

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Health Landscape SwitzerlandAround the turn of the century, Switzerland was full of spas, climatic health resorts and sanatoriums. What began as a summer resort for a few wealthy guests developed into the therapy of choice for an increasingly broad social group. Those who were weakened or suffering from chronic illnesses travelled to one of the […]

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