Four years ago today, in the midst of a challenging pandemic and various restrictions, the JGL Pharmacy Museum was opened! On that 22 October 2020, Rijeka welcomed a specialised, private museum in which the Croatian and world history of pharmacy is shown in a modern way, and it is the only museum of such kind in Croatia. The JGL Pharmacy Museum was established through cooperation between our company, the City of Rijeka and the Rijeka City Museum. As we celebrate its 4th birthday, it is an excellent opportunity to reflect on the work and accomplishments we have achieved so far.
We are particularly proud that, since its inception, the JGL Pharmacy Museum has become a favourite destination for organised visits by school and student groups. At our museum, pupils and students of different ages learn the history of pharmacy in an engaging way while the youngest visitors get to discover what pharmacy is all about. Last year’s organised visits of student groups from France, the Netherlands, Italy and many other countries demonstrate that the museum is also recognised abroad.
The JGL Pharmacy Museum is an active member of the European Route of Historic Pharmacies and Medicinal Gardens, certified as the Council of Europe’s Cultural Route in July this year, which is a great success, especially considering that, since 1987 to date, only 48 cultural routes in Europe were certified.
Of course, one of the primary activities of the museum is researching the history of pharmacy in Rijeka and Croatia. Thanks to our strong collaboration with the City Museum of Rijeka, several exhibitions featuring this topic were organised in recent years, the most notable being “Alga Sušak in Service of Health”, which was also held last year at the Nikola Tesla Technical Museum in Zagreb.
The JGL Pharmacy Museum is also recognised by the University of Rijeka and has become an official knowledge base for history students, offering them the opportunity to learn about all aspects of museum work through apprenticeship programmes.
The JGL Pharmacy Museum enters its fifth year and continues its activities. We are proud to announce that in the first half of 2025, as part of the cooperation between the JGL Pharmacy Museum and the Rijeka City Museum, a commemorative plaque will be placed on the Alga Palace, a historic building located near Rijeka’s Piramida (“Pyramid”). The plaque will remind the citizens of Rijeka and all visitors about who built the building and what it originally housed. Through this initiative, the museum will fulfil another of its objectives: to enhance citizens’ awareness of significant figures and events in Rijeka’s history. Additional research on the history of pharmacy in Rijeka and the surrounding area is also underway, which should soon result in a monograph exploring that topic.
Happy birthday to our JGL Pharmacy Museum! Here’s to many more decades of actively preserving and promoting the rich history of pharmacy!