The Pharmacy Museum in Cluj-Napoca Reopens

Pharmacies and medicines are part of our lives, sometimes more than we desire or would recommend. Therefore, it's no wonder that there is a dedicated museum. The Pharmacy Museum in Cluj-Napoca has reopened to the public, having been closed for the past 6 years for rehabilitation, following the restitution of the building, Casa Hintz, to its former owner. Ana Maria Gruia, the curator of the Pharmacy Museum, stated that the first public pharmacy in Cluj was opened around the year 1550, and the current museum space was the Mauksch - Hintz Pharmacy's residence for almost 200 years: "The internal structure of the pharmacy and the role of each room can be reconstructed. Initially, the officina, meaning the pharmacy's shop, was located in a room decorated with baroque paintings, later moved to the room facing the market. On the ground floor, the pharmacy had a laboratory and a storage room, accessible to pharmacists and assistants. The basement was used for storing liquids and temperature-sensitive substances, while the attic served for drying medicinal plants. The pharmacy owners' family lived upstairs." In turn, Felix Marcu, the Director of the National Museum of Transylvanian History (MNIT), stated that the Pharmacy Museum houses an impressive collection of over 7,000 authentic items, including 200 ancient medical instruments, various containers, manuscripts, medical equipment, and the consultation bed of Professor Iuliu Haţieganu. "It's a living collection that enriches itself every year," emphasized Felix Marcu. The investment in the rehabilitation of the Pharmacy Museum amounted to over 1.1 million lei, with three-quarters of the sum provided by the Ministry of Culture and the remainder by MNIT. The Pharmacy Museum was closed in 2018 after the building was restituted in 2008 to the former owner, Hintz Gyorgy, who initiated rehabilitation and modernization works in 2018, costing several million euros. The Pharmacy Museum offers free audio guides in Romanian and English, informative brochures in three languages, as well as specialized guidance from a museum expert.