Published on: 2026-09-25
Source: Moscow Government – Правительства Москвы –
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A digital tourism service invites you to find out where, how, and with what the Muscovites were treated in past centuries. Russpass. For World Pharmacist Day, celebrated on September 25, a selection of architectural monuments and online tours related to the history of pharmacy and medicine development in Moscow has been prepared. The service features detailed descriptions and photographs of each location and route. Some tours are supplemented with free audio guides. In addition, the service allows users to choose thematic excursions with professional guides.
Unveil the secrets of the tsar’s pharmacy
On Nikolskaya Street is the building of the former Ferrein pharmacy (house 19/21, building 2). It now houses a crystal shop. This is an elegant mansion with facades in the Neo-Renaissance style — featuring stone decorations, large windows, and columns. It is adorned with sculptures of Hygieia, the goddess of health. The building was constructed at the end of the 19th century, designed by Adolf Erikson for Vladimir Ferrein, the heir to the pharmaceutical dynasty. Due to its beauty and scale, newspapers dubbed the house the “tsar-pharmacy”: it was one of the most famous in the capital and was considered one of the largest drugstores in Europe. The pharmacy had branches — an estate with plantations (located in Northern Butovo, since 1931 the All-Russian Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants) and a factory in the village of Nizhnie Kotly (now Nagatinskaya Street). In 2021 and 2024, important work was carried out in the building on Nikolskaya: the Hygieia sculptures were restored and the facade was renovated.
The famous pharmacy was included in several routes in the Russpass service. You can see it by going on walks “How Moscow Learned to Heal. The History of the Capital’s Medicine” and “Secrets of Moscow Perfumers: Stories and Names”. In addition, visiting the pharmacy on Nikolskaya Street is included in programs conducted by certified guides. For example, in the tour “Chronicles of Kitay-Gorod: Legends of Nikolskaya”, “Moscow theatrical, commercial, and advanced throughout the centuries” and “Germans in the Service of the Russian State”.
To visit the oldest pharmacy in the city
You can see the oldest currently operating pharmacy in the capital at Prechistenka (house 6). It was opened at the beginning of the 19th century. The building is constructed in the eclectic style. It once belonged to the merchant Stepan Milyakov, who rented out the second floor to a pharmacy. Later, the house was owned by the well-known pharmaceutical dynasty Forbriker in Moscow. In 1874, the building was rebuilt according to the project of architect Nikolay Mikhnyev. The house acquired a third floor, where apartments were located, and a laboratory was set up in the basement for preparing medicines.
Today, the pharmacy occupies the first floor of the building. Visiting it is part of the tours. “In the Vicinity of the Kremlin: Prechistenka and Volkhonka”, “People lived — an ordinary life of extraordinary people” and others.
See a unique sign
Another old pharmacy is located in income house on Malaya Bronnaya Street (building 22, structure 1). This is a six-story building in the neoclassical style. It was built in 1913 based on a design by Sigismund Vul’fson. Apartments in the building were rented out, and a pharmacy was opened on the first floor. It has been operating for 113 years.
In the 2010s, at the initiative of the residents, the historic signs with the names of the institutions housed in this building, including the pharmacy, were restored. You can see it on a walk with an audio guide along the route “Malaya Bronnaya — the heart of the sleepless capital”. Getting acquainted with the history of the building is also part of the tour “Hidden Stories of the Patriarch Ponds: Between Facades and Time”.
Create your own pharmacy route
One of the popular features of the digital service is the creation of personalized thematic journeys. Users add routes and places they like to the “Favorites” section, and the Russpass planner creates a full-fledged walk based on them. For example, such a route can include the refectory of the 17th-century Apothecary Order (Starovagankovsky Lane, house 25/5, building 19). Today, this is part of the A.V. Shchusev Museum of Architecture in in the Talysin city estate. It is also worth visiting Boni income house (Pyatnitskaya Street, building 20, structure 1). Once, this was the location of Roman Keler’s pharmacy — the creator of Russia’s first large-scale industrial production of medicines. It will also be interesting to see Korovin’s tenement house ensemble (19 Petrovka Street). Since the 19th century, the Auerbach’s Petrovka Pharmacy operated here, followed by the Central Homeopathic Pharmacy of Forbricher.
For an immersion into the history of pharmacy, besides ancient pharmacies, the walk can include other places as well. On the map of Moscow, there are two pharmacy-related toponyms: Aptekarsky Lane and Pharmaceutical Drive. Aptekarsky Lane located in the Basmanny district. It is named after the pharmacy of Johann Gottfried Gregory, which was here since 1702, and the apothecary garden in the New German Quarter. Pharmaceutical Passage is located in the Koptevo district. In 1976, the Moscow Pharmaceutical Factory moved here.
In addition, in the past, Moscow maintained apothecary gardens for growing medicinal plants. One of the first of these is described by the exhibition “Izmailovo — the Tsar’s domain of the 17th century”. And in the most well-known the botanical garden “Apothecary’s Garden” (Prospect Mira), founded by Peter I himself, has been restored to feature a medicinal plant garden with an 18th-century layout.
The thematic walk can also include monuments to scientists who have contributed to the development of domestic pharmacy. For example, To Mikhail Lomonosov on Mokhovaya Street, to Dmitri Mendeleev Alley of Scientists At Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov and in front of the building of the Faculty of Chemistry on the Leninsky Hills, to the surgeon Alexander Vishnevsky in front of the National Medical Research Center of Surgery named after A.V. Vishnevsky on Bolshaya Serpukhovskaya Street.
Photographs and other information about Moscow’s cultural heritage can also be found in the section “Cultural Heritage” in the city media bank “Mosphoto”.
A large-scale project is presented on the mos.ru portal special project, dedicated to the development of key sectors of Moscow. These include transport, industry, healthcare, education, sports, and the construction sector. The special project helps to learn how the capital has changed over recent years, which initiatives aimed at making residents’ lives even more comfortable are currently being implemented, and what awaits Moscow and its inhabitants in the near future.
On the project page “Culture, Heritage, and Leisure Industry” it is possible to learn about how architectural monuments are preserved in the capital. Moscow is the cultural life center of the country and ranks among the leading megacities in terms of the number of museums and exhibition halls. The city has created a film cluster that unites the Moskino film factory on Ryazansky Prospekt, the Gorky Film Studio, and the Moskino film park.
Get the main news promptly on the official channels of the city of Moscow in messengers “Max” and “Telegram”.
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