JGL Pharmacy Museum

Established by the local pharmaceutical firm JGL, who have a production plant just outside the city, Rijeka’s new pharmacy museum offers an entertaining and educative introduction to the world of medicines and their manufacture. Far more than just a showcase for jgl’s own activities, the educative and entertaining museum demonstrates just what can be achieved through thoughtful design and engaging presentation. Stages in the development of pharmacology from Hippocrates through Paracelsus are illustrated on a central circular panel. Lurking inside the circle is a recreation of a nineteenth-century apothecary (based largely on the real-life pharmacy that once served customers at Rijeka’s railway station), its shelves lined with Latin-labelled remedies in glass and ceramic pots. We also get to see colourful posters advertising Alga, the local firm founded in 1926 to develop treatments made from seaweed (it was based in Susak, now an integral part of Rijeka but at that time a separate city on the Yugoslav side of the border). As a small, specialized collection that succeeds in shedding light on the city’s social history, the JGL Pharmacy Museum will be well worth your visit.