Blog der Hauptbibliothek

At the end of the 18th century and in the first half of the 19th century, the canton of Appenzell was the preferred destination for whey cures. In spring and summer, Gais, Weissbad, Gonten, Heiden and other villages offered spa guests drinking cures with pure goat and herbal whey. Such cures were particularly recommended against […]

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Until well into the 20th century, stays in a health resort were also common for children. They spent weeks or months separated from their parents. Jörg Zemp, now 65, remembers his stay at the Theresia children’s Kurhaus in Unterägeri. Jörg Zemp was interviewed by Ursula Reis, subject specialist for medical history at the Main Library […]

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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 – […]

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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 […]

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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, […]

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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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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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