Founded in 1913 by Albert Schweitzer and his wife, the first hospital was almost completely destroyed during the forced absence of its founders during the First World War: German citizens, they were expelled from French Equatorial Africa and interned in Saint-Rémy -de-Provence. When he returned to Lambaréné in 1924, Albert Schweitzer built the second hospital, which was completed in September 1925, with a capacity of 150 patients. Following a famine and an epidemic of dysentery which raged in early 1926, Albert Schweitzer realized that his hospital was too small compared to the needs and that he could not expand it on the land that ‘he owns ; he therefore decided to build a third hospital, a few kilometers further, on larger land. The old hospital was moved to the new buildings on January 21, 1927. In 2009, the old hospital was included on the tentative list of UNESCO world heritage sites.