The
Pharmacy
Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...
Museum of
Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
is a museum dedicated to the history of pharmaceutical activity. It was established in the building of the National Association of Pharmacies, in the
Santa Catarina district of the Portuguese capital, and was inaugurated in June 1996. A
branch of the museum was created in the city of
Porto in 2010. The first pieces that formed the Lisbon museum were those donated from the private collection of Dr. Salgueiro Basso. These were followed by several donations from other pharmacists and institutions, following a request sent out by the association, which were augmented by purchases worldwide. The collection represents over 5,000 years of health history.
Collection
The collection consists of over 15,000 pieces from various locations together with recreations of three pharmacies from Portugal and one from the former Portuguese colony of
Macau, the only authentic Chinese pharmacy displayed in the western world. There is also a military pharmacy, and portable pharmacies used by
King Carlos on his yacht, the Portuguese racing driver
Carlos Sousa
Two tiger attacks occurred at the San Francisco Zoo, in 2006 and 2007, both involving a female Siberian tiger named Tatiana (June 27, 2003 – December 25, 2007). In the first incident, a zookeeper was bitten on the arm during a public feed ...
in the
2006 Dakar Rally
The 2006 Dakar Rally, also known as the 2006 Paris-Dakar Rally, was the 28th running of the Dakar Rally event. The 2006 event ran from 31 December 2005 to 15 January 2006. It started from Lisbon, Portugal, and passed through Spain, Morocco, Mali, M ...
,
Roald Amundsen on his 1911 expedition to the North Pole, and by American astronauts on the
Space Shuttle. Items include those from the
Pre-Columbian era, which identified
analgesic
An analgesic drug, also called simply an analgesic (American English), analgaesic (British English), pain reliever, or painkiller, is any member of the group of drugs used to achieve relief from pain (that is, analgesia or pain management). It ...
and
hallucinogenic plants;
Egypt,
Mesopotamia and the Arab world, which introduced pharmaceuticals that included syrups and other confections that used sugar or honey; the
Tibetan approach that valued having a thorough knowledge of the human body; the
Middle Ages, which saw the separation of the medical and pharmaceutical professions; and the modern age, which saw the emergence of instruments such as microscopes and thermometers. There are also exhibitions devoted to African medicine, which has developed rituals for the treatment of the body and spirit of patients, using sacrifices and dances as healing methods, as well as traditional Chinese medicine.
sarcophagus
A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek ...
. Products sold in early Portuguese pharmacies in the 18th and 19th centuries, such as '' Água de Inglaterra'' a cure for malaria, are exhibited. The museum has a good display of laboratory equipment such as distillers, a furnace, scales, copper and cast-iron pots and retorts. Another display shows embalmed animals or animal parts, tiger bones, snake venom and other items used to prepare remedies. Notable in the exhibition of storage vessels are pictures on the containers that enable us to identify the usage of the various medicinal powders that they contained. A collection of household remedies is stored in drawers that show the relevant parts of the human body for treatment with the cure contained inside. Other items to be seen include chastity belt
A chastity belt is a locking item of clothing designed to prevent sexual intercourse or masturbation. Such belts were historically designed for women, ostensibly for the purpose of chastity, to protect women from rape or to dissuade women and the ...
s and early condom
A condom is a sheath-shaped barrier device used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy or a sexually transmitted infection (STI). There are both male and female condoms. With proper use—and use at every act of in ...
s.[
In addition, the museum focuses on important Portuguese chemists, such as ]Odette Ferreira
Maria Odette Santos Ferreira (4 June 19257 October 2018) was a Portuguese professor of microbiology who played an important role in research on HIV, through the identification of the HIV-2 virus in association with the Pasteur Institute of Par ...
who played a significant role in identifying the HIV-2 virus.
Awards received
The Pharmacy Museum in Lisbon has won numerous awards, including:
* Best Portuguese Museum in 1996, 1997, 1998 [
* National Design and Communication Award in 2002][
* Nominated for the European Museum of the Year Award in 2004
* Best Cultural Extension Service Award in 2008]
References
{{Authority control
Museums in Lisbon
Buildings and structures in Lisbon
Pharmacy museums
Tourist attractions in Lisbon