The third room - refectory

The third room was originally a dining room of the monastery, i.e. a refectory. Pharmaceutical cupboards, mortar and racks from the end of 18th century are being exhibited here. A diploma of the Prague Charles-Ferdinand University for the Master of Pharmacy (PhMr) Jan Dobromil Arbeiter (1794 - 1870), the portraits of the pharmacists Hofmann and his wife, of the pharmacist Benjamin Fragner (1824 - 1886), one of the founders of the Czech large-scale production of special medicaments all represent the 19th century in this room. A neo-rococo and neo-baroque work tares with two scales, a painted oval signboard of the pharmacy „Black Bear“ (Apotheke zum schwarzen Bären), a brass mortar of the pharmacy „Black Bear“ by J. Bier from 1800 on a wooden pedestal - a bear - are all from the same period as well. Pharmacists’ racks, drug jars from different materials (sheet, stoneware, faience, porcelain, glass, and wood) for preservation of medicaments are composed in the racks (repositories) in line with their historical development since end of 18th century until the middle of the 20th century. In counters cupboards, it is also possible to see samples of both domestic and foreign manufactured healing substances and materials for dressings, small pharmaceutical formula production tools (e.g. for the production of suppositories), packaging material, homeopathic first-aid kit, ampoules and syringes, small scales and a control-analytic department with reactive and a microscope. Several samples of chemical glass, a machine for the division of powders into paper bags, pharmaceutical labels, a machine for signing with templates for letters, samples of pharmaceutical magazines, lists of medicines and several bookplates (exlibris) of our pharmacists are exhibited in table glass cases. A big iron mortar, a press for tinctures, a glass percolator, a sieve in a niche, a copper pan, a machine for the spreading of ointments and their filling into tubes and a machine for sterilization all prove that the pharmacy always had a laboratory (the so called Latin kitchen) for the production of medicaments and agents in larger than scales for prescriptions only. These were either intended for stock in trade or the were the so-called domestic specialties.

Exposition „The Magic of an Apothecary“

• The first room - entrance hall
• The second room - baroque pharmacy
• The third room - refectory
• The fourth room - the stock-room with materials
• The fifth room - "columned" room
• The sixth room - pharmacy of the second half of the 20th century

Copyright © 2002-2009, PharmDr. Martin Dočkal
The Czech Pharmaceutical Museum, Hospitál Kuks, 544 43 Kuks
Founder: Faculty of Pharmacy of Charles University, Heyrovského 1203, 500 05 Hradec Králové 5