Budapest

Located in Budapest's Castle District on the site of Buda's first pharmacy established in 1681, the Golden Eagle Pharmacy Museum (Arany Sas Patikamúzeum) opened in 1973 as a department of Semmelweis University and showcases the fascinating evolution of pharmaceutical practice from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance and Baroque periods. What began as a private collection of pharmaceutical oddities in 1896 became this captivating museum, featuring an authentic reconstruction of a 17th-century alchemist's laboratory complete with original furnishings, a replica fireplace, and cooking area where medieval practitioners would have prepared remedies. The museum's eclectic collection includes unusual medicinal artifacts dating back to the 1600s, from Hungarian chemists' historical relics and antique ceramics to curiosities like dried bats, tiny crocodiles in jars, and even a rare box of mumia (mummy powder), alongside traditional herbs and curiously shaped glassware used for pharmaceutical preparations. Housed in a building with a Neo-Classical facade and Baroque interior that survived centuries of conflicts including Turkish sieges and World War II battles, this intimate three-room museum offers visitors a unique glimpse into the mysterious world of pre-modern medicine and alchemy.