Pharmacy to the Golden Unicorn

The Golden Unicorn Pharmacy Museum was set up in Kőszeg in the former “Apothecary of the Golden Unicorn” pharmacy building. The building was restored according to its late 18th‑century condition. The material of its permanent exhibition was selected from the memories of 17th‑19th‑century civil and monastic pharmacies of Vas County.

Here is placed the county museum organization’s exhibition on the history of pharmacy, whose most valuable collection is the furniture of the former Kőszeg Jesuit pharmacy made between 1737 and 1743. In the first room the county’s oldest pharmacy‑history documents, the written memories of the Jesuit pharmacy and the history of the museum building are shown. In the great hall the tools of pharmaceutical practice and their development are exhibited, such as measuring and testing instruments and the materials of old medicine. The evolution of pharmacy vessel shapes from the 17th to the 20th century can be followed. In the last room the tools required for dispensing medicines are displayed: here can be seen a unique domestic herb‑drying attic space, a drug attic for drying and processing herbs. Even today, about eighty kinds of herbs, mainly used in the 18th century and presented in the museum’s botanical garden, are dried here, filling the room with a pleasant scent.