PHARMARCY MUSEUM - BASEL SWITZERLAND
Pharmaceutical History and Herbarium
Of the many
museums of Basel it is undoubtedly one of the most pleasantly aromatic
museums
to visit. The aerial mixture of hundreds of herbs enfold
you as you enter the door from the hidden courtyard, stepping into the
old medieval house, presented with rich wooden counters and shelves of
herb remedies in the original confines of the historic Barfüsser
Pharmacy. Now the Pharmaceutical Historical Museum of Basel, you can
actually purchase the herb wares in this "Herbarium".
The University of
Basel took over the building and its historic pharmacy in 1924, creating
the museum of pharmacological history with one of the
world’s most important collections of historic pharmaceutical objects.
The museum is spread through rooms and floors in the old house beyond
the counters of the Herbarium, featuring ancient pharmaceutical treatments
from across the ages. Glass cases filled with the curious objects of
the healer’s art, from bones to bottles of Elixer Vitae, complete
period laboratories, furniture, amulets, pottery and vessels, instruments
and illustrated manuscripts on the art, craft of healing, both innovative
and fanciful, illustrating the historical, scientific, artistic and popular
nature of the history of the pharmacy.
The house named "Zum Vorderen Sessel" (the front seat) was
built around 1480, the residence and printing shop of Basel book printer
Johannes Ammerbach, later taken over by Johannes Frobenius, who made
Basel one of the leading printing centers of the German language book
trade (see Basel Paper Museum). Artist Hans Holbein began his career
as an illustrator in the shop and the humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam lived
in the house for two years. The building’s connection to medicine
came when the renowned 16th Century scholar of nuturopathic medicine
and the City Doctor of Basel, Theophrastus von Hohenheim, known as Paracelsus,
served as the Froben family’s personal physician.
The collection of obsolete remedies gives a peek into the errors of
medicinal thought of the past, medicinal potions and ointments of mineral,
herbal and animal origin more imaginative than effective, including a
varieties of amulets to ward of the demons of disease, protecting the
user with magical powers against the plague. Four rooms in the museum
present a look into the ideas of medicine before the modern era - a medieval
Gothic private chapel built in the 15th century converted into an alchemist's
work room, a pharmaceutical laboratory from 1800 of complex lab apparatuses
and glass tubes, an Empire period pharmacy from France, and the Baroque
Habsburg royal court pharmacy of Innsbruck from 1755.
The
Pharmazie-Historisches Museum Basel in the courtyard of Totengässlein
3, is open Tuesday to Friday from 10am to 6pm and 10 to 5pm on Saturdays.
Admission is 5 chf for adults, 3 chf for students. There are lectures
and events offered but most are in German. You can arrange a guided
tour in English, or use the audio guide. The Pharmacy Museum is a stop
on the Paracelsus Walk of Basel marked by
grey-on-blue
signs
with the physician’s balding image. From the Marktplatz take the
steps of the Totengässlein toward the Peterskirche on the hill above
the old city, after 100 yards the entrance to the inner courtyard on
the left is marked with a sign. You can get a map or iGuide hand held
PDA tour guide from the tourism office at Barfusserplatz or the SBB main
Basel train station. © Bargain
Travel Europe
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SEE
ALSO:
PUPPENHAUS - DOLLS HOUSE MUSEUM
GERMAN
APOTHECARY MUSEUM – HEIDELBERG CASTLE
