June 2018 - Museum of Pharmacy Jagiellonian University, Collegium Medicum in Krakow, Poland

1. Museum of Pharmacy
Jagiellonian University Collegium Medicum
in Krakow, Poland
Recently, I have visited Krakow and discoverd an amazing little place by accident in the heart
of the old historical town centre. The Museum of Pharmacy of the Jagiellonian University is
one of the few museums of this type in the world.
It was established in 1946 and incorporated into the Faculty of Pharmacy of the prestigious
Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland in 1993. Apart from being a museum, it also
maintains scholarly and educational activity within the field of the history of pharmacy.
For nearly six centuries, Krakow was the capital of Poland and the country's largest city.
Perhaps Krakow's greatest attraction lies in the fact that, unlike so many Polish cities, it was
scarcely damaged in World War II. In recent years many buildings and monuments have been
restored to their former glory.

2. The permanent exhibition occupies five levels of the building – from the 15th century cellars
up to the attic. The exhibits collected there illustrate the history of pharmacy from the Middle
Ages up to contemporary times.
One can find there pharmaceutical vessels, including an impressive collection of majolica
from many European manufacturers, mortars in various sizes and shapes, laboratory
equipment and pharmacy utensils, medicinal raw materials, mementoes of eminent
pharmacists, a stamp collection depicting the history of pharmacy, as well curiosities
connected with ancient medicine.

3. One of the highlights of this delightful museum is a beautiful stained glass-window
representing a mortar and a pestle sourrounded by medicinal herbs like Digitalis (Digitalis
purpurea), Aconite (Aconitum napellus), Opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) and
Belladonna (Atropa belladonna).

4. To my big surprise and pleasure, a small section in the museum has also been dedicated to
homeopathy and some old homeopathic kits have been exhibited and can be viewed.

5. Some of our remedies ....
Corallium rubrum
Cantharis vesicatoria

6. On the top floor of the building an apothecary attick has been arranged, equipped with
appliances necessary to prepare herbal substances - there are knives, herb cuters, sieves, straw
containers, percolators and presses.
What is more, the museum contains a restored interior of an 18th century pharmacy, as well
as other rooms, such as an antique pharmaceutical laboratory, a cellar with barrels and bottles
for medicinal wines and an attic, used for drying and storing medicinal herbs. The museum
also possesses a library, storing among other things, antique herbaria, pharmacopoeias,
antidotaria and other printed material related to the history of pharmacy, as well as the
memorabilia of pharmacists.

7. This musem is like "a precious germ" in the mediaval historical town. The exhibition was
funded partly by the Polish Goverment and Glaxo Wellcome, Poland. I would highly
recommend visiting this place, you will not be dissapointed.
ADDRESS: ul. Floriańska 25, Kraków, Poland
Opening Hours: Tuesday: 12.00 a.m.–6.30 p.m.
Wednesday – Sunday: 10.00 a.m.–2.30 p.m.
Monday: closed