Guided tour of the National College of Pharmacists
The headquarters of the National Order of Pharmacists is composed of two mansions, characteristic of the architectural eclecticism of the Second Empire and the buildings built around the Parc Monceau during this period. The Moorish pavilion, commissioned by Gaston Menier, grandson of Jean Antoine Brutus Menier, founder of the chocolate factory of the same name, reflects the family taste by mixing oriental influence and Norman style. This pavilion now houses collections of pharmacy history: utilitarian objects (mortars and pestles, cork blocks, stills), pharmacy pots (Nevers earthenware, wooden silenes), prints, posters and books offer a panorama of pharmaceutical history and art. The Menier drugger, designed by Jean Antoine Brutus, is the major piece in the collections. Consisting of nearly 800 pots of blown glass, it brings together the essential drugs of the therapeutic arsenal in the nineteenth century. In the lounges overlooking Parc Monceau, you can discover an exhibition dedicated to plants, essential in Western therapeutics, from antiquity to the present day.