The second international symposium on Dr Axel Munthe¹s life and work
will be held on Saturday 13th 2003 of September at Hildasholm, Leksand, Sweden.
From the Royal College of Physicians in London, Professor Ian McDonald
(adjunct Prof Dept. Neurology, Yale University also Prof. Emeritus of
Clinical Neurology, University College London will be speaking on the
relationship between Dr Axel Munthe and the famous Professor Charcot of the
Salpetriere in Paris.
The eminent architect, writers and former curator of Villa San Michele,
Levente Erdeos will be giving a talk on ³The makings of Villa San Michele,
some connections to contemporary art and thinking²
Other distinguished speakers include the Swedish author, Bengt Jangfeldt,Dr
Peter Cottino from Capri, Mårten Lindståhl, Sweden, Dr.Katriona
Munthe-Lindgren from London, and Prof.Alden Smith, Department of Classics,
Baylor University Texas, USA.
When Munthe received his medical degree in Paris in 1880 at the age of 23,
he was the youngest Doctor of Medicine in Europe. His thesis was on the
subject of gynaecology and obstetrics. Munthe had, however, been deeply
impressed by the influential Professor Charcot in the field of neurology,
and therefore already at an early stage was greatly interested in general
diseases.
In the same year he opened his first practice in Paris, which was frequented
mostly by members of the large Scandinavian colony of artists. He lived
intermittently in Italy where he helped the cholera-stricken population
(1880 on the island of Ischia, 1883 in Naples).
In 1887 Axel Munthe left Paris and settled in Anacapri where he worked as
general practitioner. In 1890 he opened a practice in Rome where he was
consulted by foreign dignitaries resident in Rome, as well as by Italian
patients. He was appointed physician to the royal Swedish household to care
for Crown Princess Victoria, later queen, from 1892 until her death in 1930.
During the First World War Axel Munthe served as a physician in the British
Red Cross at the front in France. He described his activities in the book,
Red Cross & Iron Cross, which was published in London in 1916.
Axel Munthe became a legendary physician who always gave free medical
treatment to the poor. For some time he maintained a hospice for elderly,
destitute people in a castle outside Rome. He was an outstanding
psychologist who was extremely restrictive in prescribing treatment by
drugs. The preferred forms of treatment prescribed by Munthe included
hypnosis and therapy through music.
The Story of San Michele entirely overshadows all other publications by Axel
Munthe, although it includes much of what he had already written earlier.
His very first publications covered a number of travel discourses which
appeared in the Stockholm newspaper, Stockholms Dagblad, and which described
his experiences of relief work during the cholera epidemic in Naples. These
discourses came out in book form in Sweden in 1885, in England in 1887, and
later in 1910 in Italy. Subsequently he wrote a number of other papers and
short stories which were later collected and published: for example, Små
Skizzer, published in Stockholm in 1888; Vagaries, London 1898; Memories and
Vagaries, London 1908; Bref och Skizzer, Stockholm 1909; En gammal bok om
manniskor och djur, Stockholm 1931; Vagabondaggio, Milan 1933; Ein altes
Buch von Menschen und Tieren, Leipzig 1934, etc.
Hildasholm, the house that Axel Munthe built for his bride in 1910-1911, was
designed by the architect Torben Grut (who would later create the Stockholm
stadium). It lies amongst the trees on the edge of Lake Siljan in the heart
of Dalarna.
Surrounded by gardens and pine woods it looks over the peaceful
waters and comprises Swedish, English and Italian furniture and paintings
from the 17th, 18th and 19th century Europe. It is still used by the family
while also being opened as a museum for the public during the summer
months.
The gardens were created by Axel¹s wife Hilda on the promontories
and in the ravines surrounding the house where suddenly the well ordered
English garden breaks into the wild and romantic natural environment.
For a full programme of the symposium please contact:.Pia Thunholm
Stiftelsen Hildasholm,
Box 64
S-793 22 Leksand,
Dalarna, Sweden
Tel. +46 (0)247 10062
E-mail: munthes@hildasholm.org
www.hildasholm.org
I do hope this is of interest. If you have any queries, please do not
hesitate to contact me
Yours sincerely,
Blanca Rey-Surman
Development & PR
The Pennington Mellor Munthe Trust
Hellens
Much Marcle
Herefordshire HR8 2LY
Curator: Mr Nick Stephens
T: 01531 660 504 Fax 01531 660 501
Southside House
3-4 Woodhayes Road
Wimbledon Common
London SW19 4RJ
Curator: Mr Desmond Sandford
T: 020 8946 7643 Fax 0207 376 3327