LCS Lecture Series launched

Published by Lichfield Cathedral School on Wednesday 27th of April 2022

Dr Ilaria Scaglia, Senior Lecturer in Modern History, Aston University

"Students, Politics and Emotions during a Pandemic: The University Sanatorium of Leysin, 1922-1960"

We are delighted to launch a new series of evening lectures for students, staff, parents, alumni and the whole school community, as well as members of the local community. The first lecture will be given by Dr Ilaria Scaglia, Senior Lecturer in Modern History at Aston University.

This lecture will take us to the Swiss village of Leysin, which in the 1920s and 1930s became an important centre for the history of international cooperation in the field of health. As a destination for the treatment of tuberculosis, it attracted patients and medical experts from all over the world. One of its most famous establishments was the international University Sanatorium, where students and professors from various countries could continue their academic work while undergoing lengthy treatments. Meanwhile, its promoters argued, they could grow international friendships and mature emotions conducive to peace. Famous guest lecturers did the teaching and illustrious visitors (even Gandhi at one point) enhanced the establishment’s reputation.


Even though the University Sanatorium of Leysin did not achieve its goal of preventing war, in our uncertain times from a health, political, emotional point of view, we might find it useful to look back at similar moments in the past for insights and inspiration and also to explore the long history of the effort of building a serene, healthy, and peaceful world.