PerBo´s History of Pharmacy Web Pages

Sweden´s oldest pharmacies

by Per Boström and Bo Ohlson

One of the first pharmacies in any of the culture spheres that have markedly influenced Sweden´s development was the one that was established in Baghdad in 760 c.e. by caliph Abu Djafar al-Mansur. In southern Europe pharmacy-like shops began to appear during the 12th century, and by 1240 development had proceeded far enough for emperor Frederic II to issue a decree by which the physician´s and the apothecary´s professions were separated. In the late Middle Ages pharmacies then spread northward.

Sweden, then as now being situated on the outskirts of Europe, was slow to follow the Continental trends, and so it wasn´t until the reign of king Gustavus I Vasa, about 1552, that a "master Lucas" was granted permission to set up a pharmacy within the royal castle of Stockholm. This pharmacy was not accessible to the public, but solely would provide the royal court with medicines, confections and the like.

"Lest materialia and medicamenta be spoilt by too long storage " - by no means of care for a public in need! - Gustavus´s son and successor to the throne, king John III in 1575 consented to let his court apothecary, the Dutch Anthonius Busenius, move the pharmacy from the castle to the nearby Market Square. This pharmacy, Sweden´s first in any modern sense, some century later was to become known as "the Lion", after its sign.

The table below lists about 30 of the first pharmacies in present-day Sweden, The oldest of these was founded in the town of Malmö, which at that time was part of Denmark, and the same holds for the two Swan pharmacies of Kristianstad and Lund. Similarly, the "Crown" of Kungälv on its opening on April 27, 1657 was Norway´s fifth pharmacy, only to become Swedish by the Peace of Roskilde a year later. Here it should also be emphasized that regions, that have temporarily been under Swedish supremacy - e.g. Estonia and northern Germany - had pharmacies as early as around 1400 (possibly 1392). Thus, the Raeapteek (Town Hall pharmacy) of Tallinn (Estonia), said to have its third proprietor in 1422, probably is the European pharmacy with the longest record of uninterrupted operation.

No furniture details have been saved from any of these early pharmacies, but a number of shop signs remain. The oldest preserved pharmacy interior in Sweden stems from the Drottningholm castle pharmacy, which was set up in the 1770s and is on display in the Skansen open-air museum in Stockholm today.

References:

• Ahlberg, K.A.: Den svenska farmaciens historia, Wilhelm Billes Bokförlags Aktiebolag i distr., Stockholm 1908.
• Levertin, A. et al.: Sveriges Apotekarhistoria, Ernst Westerbergs Boktryckeri-A.-B./Apotekarsocieteten, Stockholm 1910-1918/1971.
• Nordholm, Uno: Akademiapoteket i Lund. Svensk Farmacevtisk Tidskrift 75:129 - 139 (1971).
• Åberg, Gunnar: Apoteket Lejonet i Malmö 400 år. Svensk Farmacevtisk Tidskrift 75: 289-292 (1971).
• Krook, Gunnar: Antonius Busenius och det första apoteksprivilegiebrevet. Svensk Farmaceutisk Tidskrift 80: 500-503 (1976), and Farmacihistoriska Sällskapets Årsskrift 1976, p. 11.
• Nordholm, Uno: Sextonhundratalets Stortorgsapotek. Svensk Farmaceutisk Tidskrift 78: 361-368 (1974), and Farmacihistoriska Sällskapets Årsskrift 1974, p. 21.
• Göthberg, Gunnar: Glimtar ur de tre äldsta Göteborgsapotekens historia. Svensk Farmaceutisk Tidskrift 76: 890-899 (1972), and Farmacihistoriska Sällskapets Årsskrift 1973, p. 6.
• (Lindh, Asbjørn: http://www.uib.no/farmasi/History/history1.html) (Internet link defunct since 2005).
• Sundén, Maud: Svensk Farmacevtisk Matrikel, 103th ed., Apotekarsocietetens Förlag, Stockholm 1999.
• Berg, Christer: "Estland - En studieresa med farmaceutiska förtecken", Elixir, p. 13, no. 2, 2001.

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