Nemes János: Healing Budapest - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1993)
A Look at the Past
Semmelweis Museum of Medical History If you are interested in the details of the past of Hungarian and international health care, first visit the Semmelweis Museum of Medical History, the house where Semmelweis was born and where his ashes are buried. Only a couple of minutes from the centre of town, it is accessible by walking across one of the most beautiful constructions in Europe, Elizabeth Bridge. It is situated just two hundred metres from the foot of Buda Castle in a well-restored two-storey copf-style building, almost two hundred years old. The museum has an extremely rich collection showing the history of medicine and pharmacology in a strict chronological order. The cabinet of the healing tools of ancient and primitive tribes contains beautiful idols dating from the Neolithic Age, and some “diagnostic” tools of South African magicians. Also to be found are Roman mummy heads (used for producing pulvis mumiae, a medicine thought to be effective), Roman pots and various medical tools; Arabic protective amulets; jugs and 1 öth-century porcelain pharmacological pots from Faenza (where faience comes from); and 18th-century surgical instruments (trocars, lancets, gynaecological knifes, cranial cutters, catheters). One of the most beautiful pieces of the unique anatomical collection is a female wax figure (called a mou- lage) dating from 1789. The open thoracic and abdominal cavity of this sculptural masterpiece give a detailed view of not only the inner organs but even the finest nerves and veins. The most spectacular section of the museum is the interior of the chemist’s store “to the Holy Ghost”. Some six hundred wooden, glass, clay and porcelain pots collected from the whole country are on display in this beautiful old Hungarian pharmacy. Semmelweis’s personal belongings are displayed in his study. What is left of his valuable library is of medical historical interest. The “Library and Archives” section of the museum is also open to visitors (II, Török u. 12., Tel.: 135-4742) (Address of the museum: 1013 Budapest, i, Apród u. i/3. TEL: 175-3533). 10
