The Sacred Legacy of Hygeia in European Culture: Interdisciplinary Study & Musealization of Historical Pharmacies

Abstract

In 2014 we began a physicochemical study of the most ancient drugs preserved at the ‘spezieria di Santa Maria della Scala’ in Rome. Since then, our research group has continued to carry out research in spezieria of Baroque Rome, but also in other historical European pharmacies, generally Italian and Spanish. The objective in all cases is to study, conserve, musealize and disseminate at a scientific level the material and immaterial heritage of these Museums of the History of Science and Medicine, in which the profane and the sacred come together. In this communication we present and contrast some of the results gathered in recent years in the ‘Santa Maria della Scala spezieria’, the Hispanic Pharmacy Museum (Madrid, Spain), the Esteve Pharmacy (Llivia Museum, Spain). The objective is to show how history, art history, conservation science, chemistry, new 3D technologies and artificial intelligence must be applied jointly to guarantee knowledge, conservation and visibility of these interesting museums and collections, in which the legacy of Hygeia, goddess of medicine in the ancient Mediterranean, has been perpetuated to the present day.