THE OLDEST PUBLIC PHARMACY IN THE CZECH LANDS
Introduction
The more one learns about the history of Jáchymov, the more surprising it becomes how many of its important pioneering achievements remain almost unknown. The town that gave the world the thaler, stood at the beginnings of occupational medicine, and significantly influenced the development of mining law is often associated mainly with silver and later uranium. In reality, however, it was also one of the places where exceptionally modern ideas in the field of human care emerged.
One such example is the local pharmacy. When people today speak about the oldest pharmacies in the Czech lands, large historic cities are often mentioned. Yet it was the rapidly growing mining town of Jáchymov that, already in the first half of the 16th century, created an environment where professional healthcare and access to medicines had fundamental importance.
The reason was simple. A mining town was not an ordinary settlement of its time. Thousands of people worked here in extremely demanding conditions, deep underground, exposed to injuries and illnesses connected with the mining profession. For such an important centre to function, it needed not only mines and smelting works, but also doctors, a system of assistance, and a place where medicinal preparations could be professionally prepared.
History
The foundations of this approach were laid shortly after the town was established. The Mining Code issued by the Schlik family and printed in Leipzig in 1518 contained social provisions that were exceptionally progressive for its time. It did not deal only with the organization of mining and mine administration, but also with the position of the miners themselves.
In the event of a workplace accident, injured miners were entitled to support and coverage of treatment costs. Mine operators were obliged to contribute to expenses connected with treatment, including medicines and medical care. At a time when social security in the modern sense did not exist, this represented an extraordinarily advanced approach.
The exceptional environment of Jáchymov is also demonstrated by the work of physician Václav Payer. In 1523, he published a work dedicated to miners’ diseases, which is considered one of the first professional treatises on occupational illnesses. He dealt not only with the diseases themselves, but also with their causes, prevention, and methods of treatment.
The establishment of an independent pharmacy was therefore not a random step, but a logical continuation of the system that had developed in Jáchymov. The mining town needed a place where medicines would be available not only for individuals, but also for a large community of people working in one of the greatest industrial centres of Europe at that time.
In 1526, the son of mint master Georg Sturtz received permission to open a public pharmacy in Jáchymov. This was no longer merely the preparation of medicines as part of the work of an individual doctor or surgeon, but an independent institution intended for the preparation and dispensing of medicinal products. It is precisely for this reason that the Jáchymov pharmacy ranks among the oldest documented public pharmacies in the Czech lands.
Its creation must be understood in a broader context. At that time, Jáchymov was one of the fastest-growing towns in Central Europe. Along with miners came specialists, merchants, and scholars, creating an urban environment with needs that often surpassed those of ordinary settlements of the period.
Over the following centuries, the pharmacy building underwent many changes. It served various purposes, and its use changed together with the history of the town. Nevertheless, it remained a reminder of a period when Jáchymov was not only a mining centre, but also a place of new approaches to organizing life in a mining society.
Legacy
The significance of the Jáchymov pharmacy does not lie only in its age. What matters most is the environment in which it was created. Together with the Mining Code, medical care, and professional interest in miners’ diseases, it formed part of a system that was exceptionally advanced at the beginning of the 16th century.
An interesting reminder of its history is provided by the original pharmacy repositories, which are now part of the exhibition on the history of pharmacy in Kuks. Thanks to them, part of the Jáchymov pharmaceutical tradition remains preserved for today’s visitors.
The former pharmacy history is also symbolically continued today by the Krušnohorská apatyka, which, in a historic setting, recalls the long tradition of working with natural substances and medicinal preparations.
Jáchymov therefore gave the world not only the wealth hidden beneath the ground. It also showed that those who extracted this wealth were not merely a workforce, but people who needed professional care. And this very idea belongs among the greatest legacies of the old mining town.
