Basel, Switzerland/basel017
Previous | Home | NextOn this very spot in the Marktplatz, during the summer soltice (June 24) of 1527, Paracelsus in a contemptuous exhibition of defiance for the authoritative dogma of the old masters, burned ancient medical books that were being used in the university. The summer soltice was a customary time for celebratory bonfires; Paracelsus used this occasion to destroy deliberately ancient hand-copied expensive tomes -- these included the classic Avicenna and Galen books, which had been used as medical texts for centuries. Such a controversial figure could not long survive in Basel!
