Cluj Pharmacy Museum reopens after restoration works

The Museum of Pharmacy in Cluj is scheduled to reopen on January 15 after the building it is housed in was restored, the National Museum of History of Transylvania announced.

Casa Hintz (Hintz House) hosts the museum, which will display its History of Pharmacy Collection, encompassing some 7,000 items telling the story of the evolution of pharmacy and medicine in Transylvania.

Visitors can see here medical equipment and other artefacts reflecting attitudes towards health and illness throughout the centuries. They can also explore Casa Hintz’s officina, the hall were products were sold, camera materialis, the lab, and other areas reconstructing the atmosphere of a traditional pharmacy.

Casa Hintz is located in Cluj-Napoca’s Unirii Square. The city’s first pharmacy opened here in the 16th century. After a period of public ownership, when the Town Council controlled it, the pharmacy went into private ownership in the 18th century. One of its notable owners was pharmacist Tobias Maucksch (1752-1802). The Hintz family owned it from the 19th century until 1949, when it was nationalized.

(Photo: Ileana Marcela Bosogea Tudor |Dreamstime.com)