ABOVE: The facility now known as the Cave Historique des Hospices de Strasbourg was installed at the Hôpital Civil de Strasbourg in France in 1395 to store wine. Doctors of the Middle Ages used wine to treat various illnesses, support patients’ well-being, clean wounds, and sterilize surgical equipment. The wine cellar at the Hôpital Civil was in use for hundreds of years, until physicians turned away from the medical use of wine and the barrels began deteriorating from neglect. In 1996, the hospital revived the use of the barrels, and local winemakers continue to age wine in them—for recreational rather than therapeutic consumption.
WIKIMEDIA, IAN COATES
In 1395, the Hôpital Civil de Strasbourg, at the time an almost-300-year-old hospital, dug a wine cellar specifically to serve its patients—and not just with meals. From high cholesterol to herpes, doctors of the Middle Ages were prescribing wine for “pretty much any disease,” says ...
