The Mauksch–Hintz House is a historic building on the Main Square of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, which houses the first pharmacy in the city. The

classicist Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loan word from the French (), which means ' frontage' or ' face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important aspect ...

dates back to the 1820s; the ground-floor and the basement however were built in the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

era. A fresco from 1752 in the former office tells about the history of the pharmacy in the

Hungarian language Hungarian () is an Uralic language spoken in Hungary and parts of several neighbouring countries. It is the official language of Hungary and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union. Outside Hungary, it is also spoken by Hungarian ...

. Cluj's first pharmacy was opened in the building in the house on the Main Square (today Piaţa Unirii) in 1573 and was operated by the government. In 1727 it was sold to its first private owner, Alexander Schwartz, than to Tobias Mauksch in 1752. In 1851 it was inherited by the (

Transylvanian Saxon The Transylvanian Saxons (german: Siebenbürger Sachsen; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjer Såksen''; ro, Sași ardeleni, sași transilvăneni/transilvani; hu, Erdélyi szászok) are a people of German ethnicity who settled in Transylvania ...

) Hintz family and was renamed "Saint George's Pharmacy" (''La Sfântul Gheorghe''). After the establishment of Communist Romania, the whole building was nationalized, and the pharmacy was closed. The descendants of the once wealthy Hintz family migrated to

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

in the 1970s. Today the building houses the city's Pharmaceutical Museum. The collection of the history of pharmacy was developed by Professor Gyula Orient in the last century and is on exhibit in four ground rooms and in the basement. The initial use of the different rooms of the ancient shop was preserved as it was in the old times: the office, the storeroom and the laboratory. The original features from the second half of the 18th century pharmacy are emphasized in the ceiling of the office, which preserves the original frescos with pharmaceutical symbols. In the exhibition cases of Empire furniture one can see pharmaceutical implements of wood, ceramic, faience, porcelain and glass dating from the 17th–19th centuries. The reception desk features drugs, old receipts and seals of medieval pharmacies. The storeroom holds some of the furniture of the old drugstore with a rich collection of pharmaceutical wares of wood, collected from all over

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

. From this room, a staircase leads to the basement where the laboratory was located. Numerous bronze (16th–19th centuries), marble and cast iron mortars, scales, presses and weights are to be seen.

External links

*
The Medicine-Historical Museum
*
Farmacia
at the National Museum of History of Transylvania, in Cluj-Napoca *

Istoria farmaciei din Cluj-Napoca *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hintz House, Cluj-Napoca Buildings and structures in Cluj-Napoca History of Cluj-Napoca 1573 establishments in Europe Museums in Cluj-Napoca Pharmacy museums 16th-century establishments in Romania Medical and health organizations based in Romania