Christopher Heerfordt (1609 - 29 June 1679) was a Danish pharmacist and botanist of Hungarian origin. He established the pharmacy Svane Apiotek in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

in 1660.

Biography

Heerfordt was born in Schlossdorff in present dau

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

. He is first mentioned in Denmark in 1634 when he is granted a property in

Nykøbing Falster Nykøbing Falster (; originally named Nykøbing) is a southern Danish city, seat of the Guldborgsund ''kommune''. It belongs to Region Sjælland. The city lies on Falster, connected by the Frederick IX Bridge over the Guldborgsund (''Guldb ...

, but was probably by then already court pharmacist for Prince Christian, a position he held until the dissolution of the court in 1652. In 1656 he was granted a royal license to open a pharmacy in Nykøbing Falster (Løbe Apotek). The following year he also opened a pharmacy in

Nakskov Nakskov is a town in south Denmark. It is situated in Lolland municipality in Region Sjælland on the western coast of the island of Lolland. The town has a population of 12,495 (1 January 2022). To the west is Nakskov Fjord, an inlet from the La ...

. In 1660 he obtained a royal license to open Svane Apotek in Copenhagen and ceded his pharmacies in Nykøbing and Nakskov to two son-in-laws. Svaneapotek was then located in the no longer existing street Højbrostræde. He passed Svane Apotek on to a son by the same name in 1873. He died in Nykøbing Falster on 29 June 1679.

Legacy

Heerfordt created a

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...

with 343 sheets which is now kept in the Danish Museum of Natural History. ''Herbarium Danicum sempervivum'', a collection of painted illustrations of 140 plants created at Heerfordt's initiative by two foreign artists, is now kept by the Royal Danish Library. Both works, as well as a third one with plants from Brazil, were gifts from him to Frederick III in c. 1656. Herbarium was also involved in the collection of material for Peder Lauridsen Kylling's ''Viridarium Danicum'' from 1670. He also sponsored the posthumous publication of

Anders Arrebo Anders Christensen Arrebo (2 January 1587 in Ærøskøbing – 12 March 1637) was a Danish poet and Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century ...

's left

sermon A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present contexts. El ...

s, ''Torcular Christi''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heerfordt, Christopher 17th-century Danish pharmacists 17th-century Danish botanists Hungarian emigrants to Denmark 1609 births 1679 deaths