Historic Collections

• The Drug Collection comprises around 18,000 samples, mainly of plant origin.
• The Pharmaceutical Objects' Collection contains around 2,000 items.

Since moving to a new building in 1994, the institute has displayed a wide variety of objects in an exhibition hall, enabling the public to view the most interesting pieces from both collections.

The historic collection in 28 photographs on derStandard.at

The drug collection is a valuable and comprehensive assortment of medicinal drugs accumulated over a period of around 150 years. These samples originate not only from Europe, but also from all parts of the world, bearing witness to scientific expeditions and the rich variety of exotic markets, as well as the treasures of the materia medica of foreign cultures.

The Viennese collection was founded in 1849 by Karl Damian Schroff, a professor of pathology and pharmacology at the Medical Faculty in Vienna. He was responsible for teaching pharmacognosy to students of medicine and pharmacy. He used drugs, minerals and chemicals to illustrate his lectures and introduce students to medicinal ingredients.
In 1854, he purchased a substantial collection of 2,812 drug samples from Theodor Martius, a professor of pharmacognosy in Erlangen. This collection formed the basis of the current collection.

Our collection has been greatly enriched by acquisitions from scientific expeditions, such as the circumnavigation of the globe conducted by the imperial frigate Novara (1857–1859), and donations of drug collections from the Allgemeiner Österreichischer Apothekerverein and from Franz Berger, director of the druggists' school in Vienna, and Tadeus Reichstein, professor at the University of Basel.

Despite losses and damage incurred during several relocations and two world wars, our collection comprises nearly 18,000 drug samples, around 300 of which are of animal origin.

This collection was formed from the historic equipment of the institute's research laboratories and the educational pharmacy. In 1977, the collection was greatly enlarged to include instruments, pharmaceutical utensils, pharmacopoeias, books and journals from the former Imperial Pharmacy. Most of these items date from the 19th century, although some of the pharmaceutical jars and pharmacopoeias are older, dating back to the 17th century. When the Imperial Pharmacy finally closed in 1991, all articles of historic interest were incorporated into our collection. 

Some devices are rarely found, such as the large plant presses and the impressive distilling apparatus used for producing medicinal liquors on a large scale. The pharmaceutical objects in our collection, which now belong to the Imperial Pharmacy, do not represent all of the historic inventory of the Imperial Pharmacy. Some of the historic equipment was handed over to the Technical Museum in Vienna (Technisches Museum Wien) before World War II and is still kept there.
Apart from the Imperial Pharmacy there were also other institutions which contributed to our collection. In 1978 the governmental drug research laboratory donated several instruments and devices, and in 1993 various utensils of daily pharmaceutical practice belonging to the pharmacy of the General Hospital in Vienna came into our possession.
Furthermore, even private persons generously donated various very interesting pieces in the past.