Bratislava City Museum

This collection containing 8,500 items and 2,880 volumes of ancient pharmaceutical literature is one of the largest of its kind and is unique in Slovakia. It contains original items of pharmaceutical equipment, the oldest originating from the 16^th century. The Baroque and Classicist furniture and most of the faience, stoneware, glass, wooden and tin vessels for preserving medicines were made in Slovakia. The oldest dispensing containers, simple tools for the production of medicines, lab-ware and metallic sign-boards were also produced within the territory of Slovakia. Up to the time of the unification of pharmacies in the second half of the 19^th century, these producers contributed to the special and unique character of every individual pharmacy.

The surviving literature documents the expertise of pharmacists who tried to acquire latest knowledge and achievements in pharmacy. Among the literature from the 16^th century, the original publication of files by Paracelsus from 1574 can be found here. From the mid-18^th century is the first quadri-lingual tariff of medicines entitled “Taxa pharmaceutica posoniensis“ published in 1745 in Bratislava valid throughout the Hungarian Empire which is prized as an example of the earliest Slovak pharmaceutical terminology.