Original Hanau S300 sunlamp
SUN-TAN
It is undisputed that a strong relation exists between
the sun and our health. The human race can not
survive without light and warmth and the sun is the
main supplier of both. Ever since our earliest history
we honour the sun as a source of life, fertility and
healing. It is assumed that already the old Egyptians
build structures that allowed the entrance of filtered
light for treatment of some specific diseases and
some 2500 years ago it was Hippocrates of Kos
who, during his lessons in medicine, explicitly
mentioned the sun as a beneficial source of
healing.
From the European Middle Ages on however, a
sun-tanned skin became associated with poverty
and harsh labour and a white, untainted skin became
the hallmark of the upper class.
This lasted until the beginning of the 20th century when a change of life style and the
development of tabletop sunlamps like the Original Hanau S300 on display here,
boosted the popularity of sun bathing and sun tan.
When it became clear however that an excessive exposure to ultraviolet radiation
also contained a serious risk for developing skin cancer, the hype ceased somewhat
and sun bathing became surrounded by precautionary measures to prevent sun burn
while sun beds an -studios became less and less popular. The positive influence of a
certain amount of natural sunlight for our well-being or the usefulness of artificial
sunlight for the treatment of some specific diseases remains undisputed however.
