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Museum and Municipal Archive of Calella

The modernista pharmacy

The Barri section exhibits a large number of pharmaceutical utensils from the 18th to the 20th centuries.

The Barri section exhibits a large number of pharmaceutical utensils from the 18th to the 20th centuries.

The Barri pharmacy dates from 1919, when Luís Barri i Caballé came to Calella. The section reproduces the structure of the old modernista pharmacy, although many items of furniture and utensils are even older. A set of marble and metal scales, with its welded plates, stands on the main counter. The counter stands in the midst of white cupboards stacked with shelves full of jars and containers from different periods and in different styles: precision scales, densimeters and pill boxes. The pots of yellow and blue porcelain from the 19th century stand alongside glass pots, many of which still hold their original contents. The apparatus for preparing syrups, the moulds for suppositories, the blade for cutting medicinal herbs, the metal mortar from 1828 and the test tubes all offer the visitor the image of a profession devoted to curing the sick. 

Just behind the dispatching counter, underneath the grandfather clock with ivory inserts, a door leads into the store room. Inside are the oldest pots, dating from the 18th century. There is a great variety of different recipients for different uses, such as powders, tinctures and syrups in a special cupboard for cordials where the bottles and ingredients were stored together.

OBJECTS

<p>Marble scales from the early 20th century, used in the Barri pharmacy.&nbsp;Museum and Municipal Archive of Calella.</p>

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Scales from the Barri pharmacy
Scales from the Barri pharmacy
<p>19th century mortar with curious handles in the form of a human head.&nbsp;Museum and Municipal Archive of Calella.</p>

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Large pharmacy mortar
Large pharmacy mortar
<p>Pill press, a basic tool of any pharmacy like Barri`s of Calella.&nbsp;Museum and Municipal Archive of Calella.</p>

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Pill press
Pill press
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