PEACE - Albert Schweitzer 1952 - Gunsbach, Alsace, France
N 48° 02.780 E 007° 10.362
32U E 363816 N 5323065
In the village of Gunsbach in Alsace you can visit a house which Nobel Peace Price Laureate Albert Schweitzer had built in 1928 with money from the Goethe Prize of Frankfurt. It is now a museum and archive.
Waymark Code: WMJ32T
Location: Grand-Est, France
Date Posted: 09/15/2013
Views: 8
Everyone has probably heard about Schweitzer, but here is some basic info about him:
"Albert Schweitzer, OM (14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965) was a German—and later French—theologian, musician, philosopher, physician, and medical missionary in Africa, also known for his interpretive life of Jesus. He received the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize for his philosophy of "Reverence for Life", expressed in many ways, but most famously in founding and sustaining the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Lambaréné, now in Gabon, west central Africa (then French Equatorial Africa).
Source: Wikipedia (
visit link)
Albert Schweizer grew up in Gunsbach, where his father was a pastor of the Lutheran church. In 1928, Schweizer received the Goethe Prize of Frankfurt. He used the money connected with this price to build a house in his childhood home. Whenever he visited Gunsbach, he made use of this house. Here he could be just himself. People knew him, not because of his popularity and his earned prices, but simply as the person they had always known.
The house is now a museum and an archive run by the Association Internationale de l'oeuvre du docteur Albert Schweitzer de Lambaréné (AISL) (
visit link)
Everything in the house reminds of Schweizer lively. One can see the cabinet where he kept his tooth-brush (it is still there), the bed where he slept (Albert Einstein and the Queen of England have sat there), the desk where he studied (often during the night) and many other things.
The original Nobel Peace Prize, awarded to him in 1952 is also shown (taking photos of the document was prohibited).
The museum guides have many stories to tell, the place is well worth a visit!
If you have some time to spare, you should also take a walk around Gunsbach on the Albert Schweitzer path (
visit link) which shows you many places that were important for Schweitzer. Up on a hill where he used to walk, there is also a monument dedicated to him.