Miejsce realizacji: Apteka Muzeum (Apteka Muzeum)
Adres: Lublin, ul. Grodzka 5a

The origins of pharmacy can be traced back thousands of years. In fact, the earliest pharmaceutical text ever discovered dates to the Mesopotamians in 2100 B.C.

From the time our early ancestors realized there were medicinal properties contained within the natural world, there have been people whose role in society was to transform leaves, seeds, bark, insects, and other flora and fauna into medicine.

Mysterious vessels, glass jars, test tubes and flasks, distilling implements, presses, grinders, herbalist accessories: in bygone days, a pharmacy looked much more like an alchemist’s chamber. The history of bygone pharmacies is presented on five floors of a historical townhouse, from the vaults to the attic. Exhibited in the beautiful interiors are the collections of former pharmacy accoutrements, furniture from various periods, “pharmaceutical curios”, and works of art with a pharmaceutical theme. The museum also runs a library with ancient herbaries, antidotaries (lists of prescriptions), pharmacopoeias (pharmaceutical codes), and other prints connected with the history of the pharmaceutical profession together with contemporary books and textbooks on the history of medicine and pharmacy, archival files on eminent Polish pharmacists, and videos and slides illustrating the history of the profession in Poland and Europe.

We would like to invite you on a tour of the permanent exhibition of the Museum of Pharmacy in Lublin’s Old Town. The museum was opened in 1988 and occupies two halls. The first is arranged as an old pharmacy would be. It contains stylish furniture from the second half of the 19th century including an expeditionary cabinet with shelves, a glazed library cabinet, and an exposition table. At the exhibition, we can see cabinets containing vessels made of crystal glass, milk glass, bottles, and jars of various shapes and sizes that were used for storing medication (including drugs and poisons) of plant and animal origins. In addition to the vessels and jars, laboratory equipment and pharmacy tools are displayed including distillers, inhalers, mortars, a saturator, a pill-making kit, and guillotines. The second room is a reconstruction of a chamber of laboratory and storage character and houses an extensive collection of scales. The museum also has a display of old prescriptions, labels affixed to finished medicines, and other documents used in the pharmacy. We hope that this will be an interesting journey.