JGL Pharmacy Museum

The JGL Pharmacy Museum in Rijeka presents the history of pharmacy through ten interconnected exhibits, including a medicinal herb garden and a 3D snake symbolizing pharmacy.

Planning your visit

The JGL Pharmacy Museum is run by a Croatian pharmaceutical company in Rijeka, and it traces the history of the profession through ten interconnected exhibits — from ancient and medieval preparation, through the monastic and guild pharmacies, to industrial pharmaceutical manufacture.

Rijeka has genuine standing in the subject: the city's first public pharmacy dates to the fifteenth century, and the Adriatic ports were entry points for materia medica arriving from the East. Historic pharmacy interiors, apothecary jars, mortars, distillation equipment and prescription books fill the displays.

The medicinal herb garden is the more engaging half, growing the plants that underpin much of the pharmacopoeia, with explanation of which modern drugs derive from which species. A three-dimensional snake, the profession's symbol from the rod of Asclepius, threads through the space.

Rijeka was European Capital of Culture in 2020 and has a growing museum offering alongside its port and Habsburg-era architecture. Allow an hour. The main booking is a guided tour ticket. Current availability is shown below.