 |
|
|
|
From the antiquity, the wormwood has been used like infusion with medicinal aims. The Egyptians used it by their tonic and antiseptic virtues and was consumed symbolically by the winners of the old Olympic Games.
In the Middle Age in 1518 it was created in the house of (Palirna U Zeleneho Stromu) located in the locality of Prostejov previously pertaining to the Austro-Hungarian Empire now the Czech Republic, the "liquor of wormwood" or Absinth done with several plants among other mint, anise and hyssop and was also consumed to alleviate anginas, inflammations of eyelid and tooth ache.
Extensive myths in Internet that could not have been corroborated by the students of the history of the Absinth count the anecdote of a doctor of name Pierre Ordinaire that by the end of the XVIII Century prescribed to its patients a remedy called "Elixir of Absinth" with wormwood, and that to its death and after a series of cessions of the discovery it arrived at hands of an industrialist of name Dubied that had had the vision to sell the elixir in the stores of liquors instead of in the pharmacies, but what is certain it is that the Absinth was already produced several centuries ago in the Czech territory, which in that then it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. |
|
 |
|
The few historians of the wormwood affirm that the war that maintained the Empire of Prussia precursory country of Germany, neighbor of the then Empire Hungarian, against the French in the Franc-Prussian war (1870-1871) in which the Empire of Prussia had a definitive victory on the armies of Napoleon III, created the bridge so that the Absinth propagated quickly by all Europe.
Soon the coffees of all the great boulevards of Europe began to serve it and had a great acceptance between the bourgeoisies.
The apogee of the Absinth happened between 1880 and 1914. In 1910 36 million liters of Absinth per year were drank in Europe and from the thousands of liquors available, the consumption of Absinth owned the 90% of the sales. The five of afternoon happened to stand as "the hour of the green fairy", so the nickname that was applied to the Absinth.
The sales of the Absinth climbed to such point that put in trouble the everlasting leadership of the wine in France, national drink of excellence between the French. The industry of the wine in France in alliance with the French government worried about the increasing fame and the advance in the market of the Absinth and launched a negative campaign against it arguing that by its stimulating effects it had to be considered something more than a spirit and that it was harmful for the health. The negative campaign used thousands of arguments, all of them ridiculous and unfounded; nevertheless the economic forces that supported the prohibition were very strong.
|
|
|
Bismarckund and NapoleonIII |
Postcard |
Classic Poster of Absinthe Robette(1896) |
|
Distillation De l'Absinthe (Laboratorie de la Maison Ed. Joanne, a Ivry). |
 |
|
The rumors of a possible prohibition did not more than to increase the consumption and the attraction to the drink. Today even some affirms that the Absinth had hallucinogenic properties. Others respond that this was not thus, but that under its relaxing effect the dreams became surrealists. "After the first glass, one sees the things how it would like that they were. After the second, one sees things that do not exist. Finally one ends up seeing the things as they are, and that is the most wonderful and terrible thing that can happen "Oscar Wilde said on his experience.
The eccentric conducts of the “Absintheurs artists” facilitate the wine industry to push the prohibition. The Absinth officially was prohibited in France and Switzerland and the measurement was imitated in other countries, like Italy, the United States, Holland and Belgium.
The Absinth retreated back down to its borders to the territory which today it is known as Czech Republic and it maintained his production and provision there to supply the local demand. Later the territory was involve in a series of social problems and wars that culminated at the end of World War II, with the fall of this territory beyond the Iron Curtain of the socialist Soviet regime, the industry of the Absinth were absorbed by the bureaucracy within the government and thus it was as the defense and the promotion of this magical drink, this provoked the misled of the Absinth in history by a period of but of 80 years same in which it last the prohibition. |
|
|
Suppression de L'Absinthe |
Le Perit vert: L'Absinthe |
|
 |
| Later with the rise of the Iron Curtain and with the return of the industry of the Absinth at private hands the interest reappeared in order to restitute this drink like the most exclusive and magical that it exists in the planet.
It is then when they begin to carry out the paper work to rise off the prohibition and through several chemical laboratory tests and analyses it was demonstrated that although it is certain that the stimulating effect is very different than to take alcohol not for that reason it was particularly harmful for the health and it was just as ingesting any other drink with alcoholic content. The rise of the prohibition began approximately 4 years ago in Europe 4 being up-to-date of today released in all the old continent countries and this is as well as today we can again enjoy this exceptional elixir.
|
|
|
Spring of Praha May of 1968 |
 |
|
|
|
