Schwanen-Apotheken-Museum

Museum in the historic Schwanen-Apotheke of Bad Münstereifel with a dispensary from 1806, laboratory, storeroom and smelling lane.

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About the museum

In the house on Werther Straße on the bank of the Erft, the Bresgen family of pharmacists ran the Schwanen-Apotheke over seven generations from 1806 to 1994. When the business moved to a commercial area, the Förderkreis für Denkmalpflege der Stadt Bad Münstereifel acquired the building in 1995, had it restored with the support of the NRW-Stiftung and set up a museum in it, which opened in June 1997.

The centrepiece is the Offizin, the former sales room, whose furnishings have been preserved almost unchanged since 1806. In addition there is a laboratory equipped with 19th-century instruments and the storeroom (Materialkammer), where supplies were once kept. There, a smelling lane (Riechstraße) with drawers full of medicinal plant samples invites visitors to sniff.

The Stephinsky-Stube commemorates the pharmacist and honorary citizen Franz Maria Ferdinand Stephinsky, who in 1859 invented in the house a stomach bitter that is still sold today. A herb garden complements the museum. During the flood of July 2021 the house was badly damaged and had to be renovated over several years; it has since reopened regularly.

Highlights

Offizin from 1806, preserved almost unchanged
Historic 19th-century pharmacy laboratory
Smelling lane with medicinal plants in the storeroom
Stephinsky-Stube on the inventor of the stomach bitter of the same name
Herb garden

Permanent exhibition

Historische Schwanen-Apotheke – The Offizin, laboratory and storeroom of the pharmacy established in 1806 show medicine containers, instruments and the daily work of earlier pharmacists.

Founded: 1997
Operated by: Förderkreis für Denkmalpflege der Stadt Bad Münstereifel e. V.