Museum
of the History of Lithuania Medicine and Pharmacy
Contacts
Address: Rotušės a. 28, LT-44279, Kaunas.
Tel. (+370 ~ 37) 20 15 69.
E-mail:
lmfmuziejus@med.kmu.lt
Director – Tauras Mekas.
Information for
Visitor
Opening hours:
Tuesday to Saturday 10–17.
Admission:
adults – 4 Lt (1,16 €);
pupils and students – 2 Lt (0,58 €).
Guided tour:
charge – 25 Lt (7,24 €).
Collection
The Museum's collection is made up of Lithuanian hospital and pharmacy
establishments, medical implements, documents, personal items of doctors and
pharmacists.
Expositions
Pharmacy
history exposition
There one could enjoy the scenes of pre-history of medicine and pharmacy –
watching exhibition stands arranged with great inventiveness and
authenticity and showing a shaman curing a baby (some Lithuanian exiles
witnessed such a scene in Siberian taiga only some 40 years ago) as well as
a Lithuanian sorceress.
Officina
Officinas have been used as reception rooms for customers and sales-rooms
for those who had wanted to buy anything without a doctor's prescription.
The furniture you can see in this officina was manufactured in the beginning
of the 20th century and it was brought here from the drug store situated in
Kauno Street, Vilnius. The shelves of this room are full of old drugs and
other medical accessories. Some of them are really thrilling, e. g. tincture
of Venus' hair recommended to women as an elixir of youth and beauty, balsam
of men's strength or mysterious powder that was used in the Middle Ages for
epilepsy treating and called "Caput Mortum" which actually means dried and
grinded heads of dead people…
Coctoria
(Lat. Coquere – to produce, cook, dry) used to be one of the main premises
in a chemist's shop because here pharmacists used to produce infusions and
decoctions, to wash and dry dishes, to distil water. Very often a desk of
the owner of a shop used to be arranged here. The equipment exhibited in
this room was used at Lithuanian town and village drug-stories in the end of
the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century.
Materialia
Materialia means a pharmacy room where stores are kept.
All larger drug stores used to be equipped by a locked storeroom for keeping
reserves of various raw materials including poisonous and violently acting
stuff.
Laboratory
The laboratory produced not only patent medicines, but also other products
(aromatic waters, oils, tablets etc.), which were supplied to smaller
pharmacies. The museum exhibits a steam galenical production line and
hydraulic press used by the pharmacy laboratory of the Kaunas Red Cross
Hospital. Other devices (tablet making machine etc.), in 1922-1950, were
used by the chemical-pharmaceutical laboratory “Sanitas”.
Cellar
You
just can't miss a cellar typical to those possessed by all old drug-stores
and used for keeping materials that needed lower temperature (oils, fat) and
performing some technological operations, i. e. crushing and pulverising raw
materials as well as for ointment and liniment production.
Medicine history exposition
The exposition introduces visitors to Lithuania’s medicine in 1918-1940, to
history of higher medical sciences in Kaunas. The museum exhibits fragments
of consulting rooms of famous Lithuanian interwar period doctors, such as,
surgeon dr. V. Kuzma, ear-nose-throat doctor J. Alekna, dentist S.
Prapuolenytė-Čerkeliūnienė, eye doctor V. Janulaitytė-Alseikienė,
gynaecologist B. Simonanienė, radiologist S. Laurinavičius.
Other expositions
-
Development of medicine in Lithuania until
18th century. Instruments and documentary material reflecting the
activities of shavers-surgeons and first medical doctors are
exhibited here. A fragment of a szpital — predecessor of
a current hospital was also rebuilt.
-
Collection of medicinal materials (materia
medica). Dishes with raw materials from the museum
established by J. Mušinskis, which functioned during the period
of 1921—1939 in Vilnius Stefan Batory University.
-
Exposition of Siberian folk medicine. Shamanic
items of the Nenets people are exhibited.
-
Fragments of Lithuanian folk medicine.
Exhibitions
Exhibits are set up
in exclusive circumstances – commemorating eminent doctors' and pharmacists'
jubilees also anniversaries.
Educational activity
The museum is a training base for the Lithuanian University of Health
Sciences. Here lessons on the history of medicine and pharmacy and workshops
take place.
History of the Museum
In 1936, upon joint efforts of the Lithuanian Pharmacists Association and
the Lithuanian Union of Pharmacists, the Lithuanian Pharmacy Museum was
started to create.
Since 1937, the Lithuanian Pharmacists Association in Kaunas rented separate
premises where the exposition “Pharmacy Museum of Old Lithuania” was open to
visitors.
Since 1957, this work was continued by the Kaunas Medical Institute (KMI)
professor A. Kaikaris (1922-1997), in whose hands fell a small remained part
of the pre-war collection. In 1973, KMI Faculty of
Pharmacy opened the first exhibition “Museum Pharmaceuticum Lithuaniae”.
In 1975, the Museum of Pharmacy History was allocated separate room in the
Central Building of KMI (Mickevičiaus St. 9), where the exposition “Pharmacy
of the 19th century’s Lithuanian City” was held.
Exhibits of medical history were started to collect in 1945 by the Professor
of Department of Pathology.
Since 1957, the Assistant V. Siudikas joined his professor. Upon his
initiative, the Museum of the History of Kaunas Medical Institute was set
up.
In 1977, the exposition created by doc. V. Siudikas was called “Museum of
the History of Medicine”.
In 1985, the Lithuanian Pharmacy Museum and the Museum of the History of
Medicine was merged into one entity — the Museum of the History of
Lithuanian Medicine and Pharmacy.
Since 1987, the museum runs its activities in the restored house of the 16th
century located at Rotušės Av. 28.
Museum's Establisher – Kaunas Medical University.
Photos by R. Minevičius, R. Požerskis
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