Arnold Rikli

Arnold Rikli (* February 13 1823 in Wangen an der Aare , Canton of Bern , † April 30 1906 in St. Thomas , Carinthia , Austria-Hungary ) was a Swiss naturopath. He is the founder of the "atmospheric cure" to play with the light-air baths and a substantial role. Riki was a supporter of the so-called reform of life .
Contents
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1 Life
2 Riklis cures
3 Literature
4 External links

[ edit ] Life

Riki was born as the son of a prominent politician and owner of a dyeing . As a boy he was a very strict upbringing angediehen, which should serve at the request of parents, especially the employees in the factory. At 20 he joined his father's dying, to set up in 1845 with his brothers Karl and Rudolf one yarn dyeing plant in Seebach Seeboden (Carinthia). His main interest was already in those years of natural medicine , and last but not least is probably why his company ran into financial problems. During these years he constructed a steam-bed apparatus and earned a reputation as a water doctor.

1854, after he had successfully cured himself of a disease, he moved with his family in the climatically favorable location Velde in Gorenjska in today's Slovenia , to found a hospital. He treated during the summer months - probably with some success - mainly easier cases, which he could choose themselves and gathered a considerable number of followers. In the winter months he treated first in Ljubljana , then in Trieste and Gries in Bolzano severe illness and even some others failed even with his own children. Conflicts with doctors often ended in court, but Riki remained until his death in self-conscious and loyal to his theories was convinced to have made an important contribution to medicine.

Since 1989 the annual Arnold Rikli Prize of Light Foundation in Atlanta (USA) will be awarded. The award recognizes work that deal with the biological effects of light on humans.
[ edit ] Riklis cures

Riki, who was also called "Doctor Sun", treated his patients with water-air-light therapy, employment in the fresh air, intense sun exposure ( heliotherapy ) and a vegetarian diet . Its spa guests spent the nights in open huts in the area were "air park" as the "Riklikum" or the "Arnold height," so to speak fitness courses, where his patients minimally clothed and barefoot walked. In the spa buildings in the guest bath basin and proceeded under steam baths and showers, were on the roofs, spacious sun terraces. The main principle of treatment consisted in "changing atmospheric charm" of water, air and light, which should restore the physical and mental balance.

As Riki scientific findings of his time did not believe he resisted conventional medical treatments such as vaccinations or surgery and became a bitter opponent of the medical profession. The naturopath however, raise his achievements and contributions to date (including light therapy) out.

Not least thanks to Riki Velde was an important spa and experienced in the years leading up to the First World War a remarkable boom, and even today are modified forms of treatment in today's Riklis Bled offered. Among his "students" belonged to the painter and social reformer Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach (1851-1913) who founded a commune in Vienna according to the principles of Riki. In Riklis Kuranstalt met in Bled is also the son of industrialist Henri Oedenkoven , the pianist Ida Hofmann and the brothers Karl and Gusto Graser , together in the autumn of 1900 the vineyard above Ascona populated. They named their company, which included a natural sanatorium, "Mountain of Truth - Monte Verità ". This institution also followed the ways of healing of Riki, but beyond that it was a meeting place of cultural revolutionary spirit, the "cradle of alternative culture . "
[ edit ] References

Alfred Brauchle : The owner of Arnold Rikli dyeing. Doctor In The Sun:. The same: the history of naturopathy in life paintings. 2nd ext. Ed by Great natural doctors. Reclam Verlag, Stuttgart 1951, p.204-218
Zdenko Levental. The sun doctor Arnold Rikli Gesnerus 34 (1977) 3-4, p. 394-403.
Friedhelm Kirchfeld, Wade Boyle, Nature Doctors. . Pioneers in Naturopathic Medicine Medicina Biologica, Portland, Oregon; Buckeye Naturopathic Press, East Palestine, Ohio, 1994.
Martin Green: Mountain of Truth. The Counterculture begins. Ascona, 1900-1920. University Press of New England, Hanover and London, 1986.
Robert Jütte : History of alternative medicine. From folk medicine to the unconventional therapies of today. Verlag CH Beck, Munich 1996. ISBN 3-406-40495-2
Harald Szeemann (ed.): Monte Verità. Mountain of Truth. Electa Editrice, Milano 1979th
Kai Buchholz et al (eds): The reform of life. Proposals for the redesign of life and art around 1900. Volume 1 Häusser Verlag, Darmstadt 2,001th ISBN 3-89552-077-2
Eberhard Mros: Monte Verità phenomenon Volume 1:. The Settlers (1900-1920) Ascona 2007..

[ edit ] External links

History. The beginnings of tourism: Arnold Rikli (contribution of the town of Bled, English)
Arnold Rikli from cheek post by Zdenko Levental in the yearbook of the Oberaargau 1977
Arnold Rikli in the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland