17th-19th century apothecary closets

The furniture collection of the History of Pharmacy Museum in Cluj-Napoca includes four apothecary closets from different pharmacies in Transylvania. The oldest is a rare 17th-century example of such specialized furniture once used in the Black Eagle pharmacy in Sibiu. Each drawer is marked by painted signatures in Latin, indicating its contents - Lap. pumicis (pumice stone), Lap. Haematidis (blood stone), Borax, Vitriol Hungaricum etc. This is one of the oldest exhibits of the History of Pharmacy Collection in Cluj, part of the National History Museum of Transylvania.

17th century apothecary closet from Sibiu/Hermannstadt, Transylvania, Romania

 Two other such closets date back to the 18th century and their original places of use remain unknown, as they were part of older private collections. One of the closets bears a simple, vegetal decoration, as most of the apothecary ingredients were vegetal in origin at that time, but the second is special through its iconography. It depicts the stages of life, from childhood (a child sitting on a skull, a Memento Mori type scene), youth, maturity and death (a skeleton with a scythe). Though several levels of interpretation are possible due to the details included in some of these scenes (the Wheel of Fortune, snakes, the globe etc.), the primary meaning of this composition was that all people must die but the moment can be postponed by buying drugs from the pharmacy, thus a kind of commercial and a strange Baroque marketing strategy.

18th century apothecary closet depicting the four stages of life

Detail of an 18th-century apothecary closet with vegetal decoration

The final example is a 19th century closet from the old Hintz Pharmacy that currently hosts the museum. This large closet is half open, with shelves currently holding apothecary jars made of wood, and half closed, with drawers with signatures. One of the larger drawers depicted here is marked "Saccharum", sugar, which was sold in loaves and thus required larger storage units.

Read and listen more about the collection on its brand new IziTravel page and feel free to leave a review! We shall certainly appreciate it!

Visiting hours and discounts at the History of Pharmacy Collection in Cluj

Spring has arrived in Cluj-Napoca, thus the flow of visitors shall increase at the History of Pharmacy Collection in Cluj-Napoca. We shall remind you that we welcome English-speakers as well, with free printed collection presentations, bilingual explanations in the showcases and several discounts: holders of ISIC student cards enjoy free entrance, while seniors visit the museum for free every Thursday, when the hours are from 12 to 18. All other days (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and the last Saturday of each month) visiting hours are from 10 to 16 - last entrance half an hour before closing time. Other students with valid cards and seniors on other days except Thursday enjoy reduced tickets - just 3 lei each. Full price tickets are 6 lei while the photo tax is 25 lei.

Visit the History of Pharmacy Collection in the very centre of Cluj, ion Unirii Square no. 28.

Nucum Juglans - apothecary uses of walnut husk

The Latin name of the botanic genus Juglans (walnut) comes from Jovis glans, meaning “the fruit of Jupiter”. The genus includes 21 species spread across the temperate northern hemisphere, from Europe to Japan and America and walnuts have been mainly used as food, but various parts of the plants were also used as medicine or cloth dye.

Juglans regia - walnut and husk. Source: Wikipedia

In Transylvania green walnut husk was mainly used as a domestic remedy, but it also features in some apothecary cures due to its strong effects in curing skin problems (eczema), scrofulosis (ganglia inflammation), as a resolutive (substance reducing swelling), as an emetic (useful in eliminating parasites for example) and as an astringent.

18th c. dried husk - Putamen Nucum Juglandis

The History of Pharmacy Collection in Cuj-Napoca, Transylvania, includes two jars for pharmaceutical products obtained from walnuts. In the apothecary table in the Officina one can see a wooden container that still preserved eighteenth-century dried walnut husk Putamen Nucum Juglandis, from an apothecary shop in Baia Mare. The second container, usually preserved in the museum's storage areas and not permanently on display, is a green glaze pottery jar with the paper lied inscribed “Extr(actum) nucum j(uglandis) virid(is)” – green walnut extract. This nineteenth century jar was once used in the Unicorn apothecary shop from Cluj-Napoca. 

19th c apothecary jar inscribed Extr(actum) nucum j(uglandis) virid(is) - green walnut extract

The presentation is also available in Romanian HERE.

Walnut-related objects are on display at the museum in Cluj during the month of March 2017.