During the late 1800s and early 1900s, the medical community opened a new type of institution: the sanatorium. Designed to be a place where tuberculosis patients could receive treatment for their illness, these care facilities were usually built in high altitude locations in order to provide the freshest of air, as at the time, that cold and fresh air was believed to be the best treatment for diseases of the lung. They offered nutrition, sunlight, peaceful rest, and cool, crisp mountain air as the ideal course to help patients heal. Having a beautiful and cold mountain region that fit these criteria perfect, Switzerland was home to many of these sanatoriums. This was, of course, before the discovery of antibiotics, which provided an actual cure for tuberculosis and other diseases. After this breakthrough, these places either shut down or were repurposed for other uses. Unfortunately, sometimes these places also have sordid histories…