Description: The New Orleans Pharmacy Museum, “La Pharmacie Francaise,” is the largest and finest pharmaceutical collection in the United States. Located in the heart of the historic French Quarter, the Pharmacy Museum is a treasure trove of information, medicines, books, and equipment dating back to the early 1800s. Housed in the 1823 apothecary of America’s first licensed pharmacist, the Museum contains a collection of 19th-century pharmacy and medical artifacts including an exhibition on epidemics in New Orleans. The epidemics exhibition is a must-see! Here the visitor also finds magnificent c. 1860 hand-carved rosewood cabinets stocked with hand-blown apothecary bottles filled with crude drugs. Live leeches, leech jars, bloodletting devices, 19th-century trade cards, pharmacopoeias, prescription files, and daily journals are also located in the handsome display cabinets. Civil War enthusiasts will find surgical instruments used during the war. Cosmetics and tools of the apothecary are also on exhibit. The Museum also features a 19th-century physician’s study and the Rosenthal Spectacle Collection, which illustrates the historical development of spectacles and other antique vision aids from throughout the world. Additional exhibits include homeopathic remedies, nearly 200-year-old dental instruments and other medical memorabilia. Visitors are encouraged to walk through the newly renovated courtyard, which contains a garden of herbs used for medicinal purposes in earlier years, and whose use is being revisited today. The courtyard provides a gorgeous setting for private parties and receptions and is available for rental to large and small groups. The New Orleans Pharmacy Museum is located at 514 Chartres Street in the historic French Quarter. It is open 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Tuesday – Sunday. Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for senior citizens and students. Children under age 5 are admitted free of charge. For more information, call (504) 565-8027 or visit: www.pharmacymuseum.org. |
