Black Eagle Pharmacy, Székesfehérvár

The Black Eagle Pharmacy Museum is a permanent exhibition of the Saint Stephen King Museum in the main street of Székesfehérvár's city centre, offering insight into the history of pharmacy and the past of Székesfehérvár's pharmacy. The museum, furnished and equipped in Baroque style, welcomes visitors with the authentic, characteristic appearance of an 18th‑century pharmacy. The museum presents the two‑hundred‑year operation of the pharmacy under Jesuit and then civil management in Székesfehérvár. The building is under monument protection.

History of the Black Eagle Pharmacy

The Black Eagle Pharmacy was a defining pharmaceutical institution in Székesfehérvár between 1746 and 1971, initially operating under the authority of the Jesuit religious order. The Black Eagle's earliest predecessor was the first pharmacy founded in 1688, established directly after the expulsion of the Turks by Janos Sartory, a pharmacist who came from the Pope. The pharmacy changed owners several times, and the Jesuit order finally purchased it in 1745 for the considerable sum of 1200 forints, given the circumstances of the time. With the purchase, the Jesuits effectively gained a monopoly, as the ownership included the privilege that the city administration would not grant permission to open another pharmacy. The city pharmacy that came under Jesuit ownership, later the Black Eagle Pharmacy, was headed by Jakab Maschner, a pharmacist with knowledge of German, Slovene, Latin and Hungarian.

The Jesuit order began building its house in Fehérváros in 1744, opposite the then pharmacy building. In 1749 Antal Vanossi brought to Székesfehérvár one of the era’s most renowned woodcarving masters, Bernát Baumgartner, who had already carried out significant works in other cities, including Vienna. The master led the woodcarving workshop of the Jesuit house in Székesfehérvár until 1760, which, besides furnishing the Jesuit church and the house, also produced the pharmacy’s furniture. The most characteristic part to this day is that the pharmacy is still equipped with this furniture; this room is the officina (the pharmacy room where customers are served medicines, and where simpler preparations are sometimes made).

In 1774 the pharmacy passed to the Pauline order, and after an auction it became private property again. The new owner Ferenc Valter moved the pharmacy and its furnishings to a new, present location, and gave it its current name, according to the wishes of the time, in German: Apotheke zum Schwarzen Adler. In addition to the original pre‑Jesuit furniture and the Baumgartner baroque furnishings, a Art Nouveau‑style weighing cabinet was added in the 1920s, but this was later removed to restore the unified baroque appearance of the pharmacy. Today these furnishings, mainly those that survived from the baroque period, form the exhibition setting. The Fejér County Pharmacy Center provided assistance for the permanent museum opening, the renovation was led by the Fejér County Council, and the sculptors of the Képzőművészeti Kivitelező Vállalat carried out the careful restoration of the furniture.

The present exterior of the building housing the pharmacy was obtained during a reconstruction carried out at the end of the 19th century. The Pharmacy Museum’s finely worked, rope‑decorated red marble entrance was built in the late eclectic style.

The Museum

The Black Eagle Pharmacy Museum today primarily presents pharmacy equipment made by the Jesuit woodcarving workshop and the historical furnishings of the pharmacy to visitors, thereby outlining the historical past of pharmacy and drug preparation. In addition, the pharmacy museum organizes archaeological, ethnographic and fine arts periodic exhibitions in its cultural series “Subject of the Month”, thus providing visitors with knowledge not only about the museum’s history but also about the history and culture of the city and the surrounding area. The Pharmacy Museum participates in the Museums Night program series, within which the museum staff welcomes visitors with family programmes, a herbal‑botany presentation and serves teas brewed from herbs. For schools the museum organizes children’s activities. As recognition of its cultural work, Székesfehérvár won a European Union grant of 13.6 million forints in 2011 for the development of the Pharmacy Museum, which also made possible transformations suitable for engaging children’s groups.

The Pharmacy Museum is located in the ground‑floor rooms of the building. In the interior courtyard of the building a herb garden was established, which was also visited by Pál Kitaibel. This garden was no longer used after the pharmacy ceased operation, and today the Black Eagle Pharmacy Museum no longer cultivates herbs.