Have you ever wanted to find out more about what pharmacy is like abroad?

C+D rounds up some of the best museums worldwide showcasing the history of pharmacy…

New Orelans, USA

Founded in 1950, the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum has been collecting artifacts that show the local history of pharmacy from the late-18^th to mid-20^th century, according to its website.

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Based in a classic creole townhouse that was the home and apothecary of Louis J Dulfilho Jr - the first licensed pharmacist in the United States - until 1855, the museum has around 18,400 items in its collection.

These include records, photographs, medicine poster adverts, pharmacist recipes, prescriptions and books, as well as a large collection of “pharmaceutical and medical objects made of glass, ceramic, metal, paper and leather, including medicine bottles, perfumes and cosmetics, medical instruments [and] pharmacy cabinetry”, it says.

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The exhibits vary too, including cabinets showcasing how pharmacists compounded medicines together and a focus on the history of opium products as over-the-counter (OTC) medication.

The museum also shows the development of pharmacy education at the Historically Black Colleges and Universities and the practice of African American pharmacists in the 20th century.

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There are displays on voodoo potions that could be purchased at pharmacies, as the practice of voodoo was common in New Orleans.

And an 1855 Lippincott soda fountain is on display and still in working condition – except for its lead pipes - invented in the 1830s to make “bitter medicines more palatable” and created with Italian rose and black marble.

Lisbon, Portugal

In the Portuguese capital, the Museu da Farmácia showcases donations from Portuguese pharmacists who responded to a callout for items it could display in the exhibits.

After opening in 1996, its website confirms that the museum includes travelling cabinets, apothecary jars and compound microscopes for visitors to see.

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Between 1997 and 2010, the museum purchased items from auctions and private collectors around the world to enhance its own collection, as well as opening another museum site in Porto in 2010.

The Lisbon museum houses artefacts from the end of the 15^th century to the present day and displays what old pharmacies looked like in Portugal from the 18^th to the 20^th century, alongside a recreated 19^th century Macao pharmacy.

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Meanwhile, the Porto museum has a reconstructed Islamic pharmacy as found in the Ottoman empire during the same period.

More pieces of pharmacy history are on display from other cultures such as Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Incas, the Aztecs, Islam, Tibet, China and Japan.

Budapest, Hungary

Located in Buda Castle in Hungary’s capital, the Semmelweis Museum of the History of Medicine has a permanent exhibition named the Golden Eagle Pharmacy Museum that includes a 17^th century alchemy lab replica and medicinal tools from the Middle Ages.

Its website says the exhibition is for those who want to learn about “pre-modern medicine as well as mystery and dark science” and its location is where the first professional pharmacy was established in the Buda area of the city.

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It adds that the building has survived through the history of Buda Castle battles, from the 16^th century Turkish siege to the World War Two Nazi and Soviet combats.

With the collection of Hungarian pharmaceutical history memorabilia starting back in 1896, the pharmacy is now full of different ceramic, wooden and glass vessels as well as mortars, scales and other tools.

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There are even some unusual items on display, so be prepared to see dried bats or tiny crocodiles in jars among the exhibits.

Basel, Switzerland

Another exhibition that includes items dating back as far as the 15^th century is the Pharmazie-Historisches Museum der Universität Basel in Switzerland, founded nearly a hundred years ago in 1925 by Professor J A Häfliger as a university study and reference collection.

Documenting the “history of remedies and how they were produced”, its website reveals that it is also home to historic medicaments, laboratory equipment, an alchemist’s workshop, an apothecary lab and a collection of pharmacy ceramics from the 15^th to 19^th centuries that were used to store ingredients.

It also displays carbonised squirrel and powdered mummies among a collection of medicinal substances used to heal people in the past.

And it presents three pharmacies across the ages to show how the furnishings have changed over time – including a 1755 court pharmacy as seen in Innsbruck, an 1820 apothecary in a classical Empire style, plus the Basel Barfüsser pharmacy from the industrial era of the late 19^th century.

Kaunas, Lithuania

Finally, a replica of a late-19^th century pharmacy is found at the Museum of the History of Lithuanian Medicine and Pharmacy in Kaunas.

Based in the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, the pharmacy has a prescription room, medical stock room, laboratory and doctor’s offices among other artifacts from the period.

Have you visited or seen any interesting pharmacy exhibitions? Let us know in the comments.