GERMAN
PHARMACY MUSEUM – HEIDELBERG CASTLE
From Alchemy to the Apothecary
The
German Pharmacy Museum (Deutsches Apothekenmuseum) is located within
the famous castle of Heidelberg, with the entrance
off the courtyard
in the catacomb basements of the Ottheinrichsbau. The museum houses
a collection of over 20,000 objects presenting a journey through the
history
of medical science, especially focused on the development of pharmacology
as first nearly a magic art, then a science. The collection on display
in the chambers among the foundations of the castle is one of the largest
in the world, covering two thousand years of western pharmacy history.
Remedies for illness had been practiced since the dawn of man, but
the official recognition of the pharmacist came in 1231 when the German
Emperor
Frederick II registered the first regulation of the practice with laws
laying out the rights and the duties of physicians and pharmacists.
Tour of Heidelberg Pharmacy Museum
A
self-guided tour through the pharmacy museum in Heidelberg Castle (see Famous
Castle Heidelberg) leads in a chronological order from the prehistoric
beginnings and ancient
basis of medicine, medieval monastic practices leading to the development
of science in the Renaissance leading from alchemy to the modern drug
lab. Exhibits in German and English cover early pharmacists and apothecaries,
the influence of nature observation, the rapid changes from developing
natural sciences to chemistry and scientific processes, and the shift
from craft to profession during the 19th and the 20th centuries.
The
tour leads through several recreated rooms, featuring aspects of the
development of medicnal cures from herbs to science. The modern
medical lab grew from alchemy experiments from the 17th Century. Physician
Theophrastus
von
Hohenheim,
who called himself Paracelsus, practiced his arts in the early 1500s,
beginning the development of pharmaceutic alchemy. While alchemists
originated by trying to turn base metals into gold, Paracelsus’s
vision was the formation of effective medicaments from the combining
of elements.
It wasn’t until the 17th century that the tinctures and elixirs
created through the lab processes gained acceptance. By 1680, there
were sixty-four different kinds of common lab equipment listed in Johan
Becher’s
Tripus Hermeticus. Paracelus' theories were also one of the originations of the Frankenstein story.
19th Century Chemist's Shop of Ulm
The
chemist’s shop of the 19th Century is represented by the premises
of the “Crown Pharmacy” of J. Faulhaber which once stood
on a corner in the city of Ulm. The rich furnishings of cherry wood
and ordered shelves of medications was moved intact from its original
location
to Ulm’s city history museum and later to Heidelberg. Some rather
unique take home souvenirs can be had in the museum gift shop at the
end of the tour, fairly guaranteed to be conversation pieces, including
replicas of actual exhibit items, pots for syrup and ointments, apothecary
jars, miniatures of mortars and scales, even interiors of the pharmacist’s
shop in a matchbox.
Visiting the German Pharmacy Museum Castle Heidelberg
The museum is open daily from 10:00am to 6pm from April through October and 10am to 5:30pm November to March. Admission included with admission to the Heidelberg Castle – a combination ticket €5 adult and €3 reduced, which also includes the Giant Wine Barrel and the Funicular Rail. All are included free with a Heidelberg Welcome Card. © Bargain Travel Europe
Best hotel and vacation deals in Heidelberg on TripAdvisor
Web Info
Deutsches
Apotheken Museum
These articles are copyrighted and the sole property of Bargain Travel Europe and WLPV, LLC. and may not be copied or reprinted without permission.
See Also:
HEIDELBERG STUDENT PRISON AND MUSEUM
HEIDELBERG'S FAMOUS STUDENT KISS
PHILOSOPHERS
WALK - A POETS VIEW
HOTEL
ZUM RITTER ST GEORG
SWISS
PHARMARCY MUSEUM & HERBARIUM - BASEL
