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The book describes a part of the way passed by pharmacy, developing as a profession, and its representatives, developing as a professional class, since the second half of the 19th century. There are two important points on that way: Zagreb pharmacy K Angjelu, the place of pharmacy business, and the Pharmacy House, the centre of professional activity. They are the unavoidable pillars of pharmacy development, presented through the real and symbolic places of professional identity. Their history is connected through Antun Kögl, one of the series of eminent pharmacy owners, investor of the corner house at No. 2 Masarykova Street and the donor of the building for the needs of the profession. The book was thus generated as a record of two pharmacy important places with a plethora of their respective meanings. Reconstruction of the sequence of events relevant to our theme required, first of all, a thorough research of the sources. We were encouraged by the fact that we succeeded in reconstructing the sequence of events that reveal the circumstances of the foundation of the pharmacy K Angjelu, the exact sequence of its owners and locations. However, parts of the life histories of some owners are still unknown. For instance, we were unable to find documents on the transfer of ownership from Franjo Schwartz to Franjo Wacha and from Vladoje Holjac to Antun Kögl. Owing to the fact that pharmacy practice was an important segment of life in Zagreb, part of relevant information could be found and perused in the papers of that time. Information mainly referred to the establishment of pharmacies, sometimes to transfer of ownership and some was retrieved from successively published advertisements that shed light on the way how pharmacies were run, and medicines or specialities sold in them. It was just this information that pointed to the missing parts or confirmed doubtful facts, thus joining the shreds of incomplete information into an integral story. Investigation of the pharmacy K Angjelu locations underlined its physical presence in corner houses, which gave it a distinctly urban character, demonstrating the need of establishing social relations and practice in specially assigned places. Its first location was identified at No. 17 on the corner of Teslina and Preradovićeva Streets, at that time Nikolićeva and Svilarska Streets. This was a one-storey house of modest civil architecture, also known as Šulek’s house, in which the Croatian philologist Bogoslav Šulek had lived and died. The pharmacy was situated on the ground floor from its foundation until the end of the 19th century when it was moved to a new building. The real turning point in the status and power of the pharmacy K Angjelu owners was the building undertaking of Antun Kögl, namely, the construction of a new, monumental multi-story residential-and-commercial building on the corner of Marovska (today Masarykova) and Preradovićeva Streets, which he entrusted to the young Zagreb architect Ignjat Fischer. The high quality architectural solution of the building contributed to the ultimate urban appearance of this part of the Lower Town, determining the street area and the dimensions of the neighbouring structures. The exterior of the building is a rare example of the high degree of conservation of Zagreb building heritage, which can be attributed to the continuous care and maintenance of the building on whose ground floor a pharmacy has been operating for more than one century. At first glance, the historiography of the pharmacy K Angjelu discloses the story about its operation and sequence of owners, similar to many histories of pharmacies in this region. However, the capital invested into the monumental corner house, as well as Antun Kögl’s heritage, gives a new dimension to this story. The last will of its owner changed the purpose of the building, initially conceived as a private housing structure, toward communal utilization. Thus the usual pharmacy chronology exited its frames and extended over the wider area of the Pharmacy House, gradually shaping it into a place of professional identity. We have tried to depict this development in the book, presenting the facsimiles of documents and designs relating to the erection of the pharmacy house building, operation and adaptation of some of its parts, transfer of ownership from Kögl to the Royal National Pharmaceutical Association, then to the Croatian Pharmaceutical Society, the beginnings of operation and records on the presence of other professional bodies that occasionally worked within it. Besides Kögl, mention is made of a number of eminent pharmacists who have given their contribution to the complex history of the profession and its members. They equally include representatives of the Croato-Slavonian Pharmaceutical Association and representatives of pharmacy owners, but also the more rebellious and progressive pharmacy employees, who headed or were members of other professional associations or the press. The polyphony of their standpoints, full of shifts and disputes, has found its permanent or temporary headquarters in the Pharmacy House, the place expressly intended for deliberation or argumentation concerning the profession and its members. The abundance of documents that we had at disposal revealed the development of events associated with the new building, subsequently named Pharmacy House, its erection, transformation from a residential to a communal/professional place and its functioning in the newly emerged circumstances. It became evident that the story of the Pharmacy House cannot be separated from the development of the history of pharmacy in these parts, and the processes that hallmarked this place through social and professional relationships as well as individual destinies made it a dynamic and sometimes even dramatic scene of intensive activity and often clashes between particular protagonists or groups. Despite all, the Pharmacy House became a place of education, and through its constituent bodies a relevant and unavoidable factor in making decisions relating to study reforms and Faculty of Pharmacy independence, publication of professional journals, etc. Struggle for the Pharmacy House ownership over all time periods can be equated with the conservation of the interest, development and identity of the profession and its members. Moving in of professional bodies, first of all the Royal National Pharmaceutical Association coincided with the beginning of the 20th century, the time of intensive professional and social tensions. Despite that, the Pharmacy House did not turn into a defensive stronghold of one and only professional orientation but became a sanctuary of corporations that advocated diverse and often diametrically opposed principles. This place has thus preserved the story of the succession of generations, the coming new age and new perception of pharmacy development, conflicts within the profession and attempts at their solution, ideology, and also of business activities inside the building. In addition, transformation of Kögl's building from private housing and ownership to pharmacists’ home, owned by the profession, prompted attempts to make it the place for fostering pharmaceutical heritage. This process was started with continuing, almost ritual, invoking remembrance of the donor and benefactor Antun Kögl at all major professional meetings, and then initiating, though not always implementing, activities aimed at institutionalization of the history of pharmacy as a profession and academic discipline, as well as establishment of a history of pharmacy museum. This aspect has only partially survived to date in some well-preserved memorabilia, paintings and memorial plaques in some rooms. Collection and analysis of archival sources enabled us to reconstruct the up till now unknown information and correction of available information. We believe that the data on the foundation of the K Angjelu pharmacy, sequence of its owners and locations will take hold in the collective awareness of the profession and stimulate researchers for their further research. We also hope that some key moments in the history of pharmacy, such as the establishment of the first pharmaceutical association Aesculap in 1884, which are still wrongly interpreted in recent literature, will finally get fixed in historiography on the basis of original citations from the Society’s founding assembly found in this book. We have also emphasized the need to revaluate the role of the Croatian Pharmaceutical Society, which has not been objectively evaluated so far, primarily for political reasons. The very contents of the book clearly indicate the continuity and strong influence of this Society in the promotion of professional interests, preservation of heritage and ownership, publishing activity and education, establishment of an independent pharmaceutical faculty, linking of interests of different corporations, all aimed at the development and advancement of pharmacy. Professional meetings that began in Kögl’s building at No. 2 Masarykova Street at the beginning of the 20th century are still held there. For 70 years it has been the seat of the Croatian Pharmaceutical Society (CPhS), the national professional association with voluntary membership, accepting all pharmacists regardless of where they work. It also houses editorial offices of publications issued by CPhS ̶ the professional monthly Farmaceutski glasnik, issued since 1945 and the scientific quarterly Acta Pharmaceutica started in 1951. After World War Two, a part of Kögl’s building, owned by the Pharmaceutical Society of Croatia (the name was changed to Croatian Pharmaceutical Society at the Assembly held on 26 June 1991) was nationalized, including the pharmacy. The building was rather neglected for years due to the lack of funds. After the Republic of Croatia became independent and the political circumstances were changed in the 1990s, the Croatian Pharmaceutical Society leadership invested great efforts to have the whole building returned to the profession, which actually happened some ten years later. After a multiyear legal process, the ground floor part, including the pharmacy, was denationalized and returned to the Society in 2008 while CPhS bought back the mezzanine flat from its tenants, who had purchased it in the 1990s in accordance with legal regulations of that time. After the whole building was again owned by the CPhS, it was refurbished and now houses the pharmacy on the ground floor, an oral surgery clinic in the mezzanine, a large lecture hall on the first floor, while the library and administrative offices are on the second floor. The ground floor and mezzanine are rented out, while the Croatian Pharmaceutical Society uses the first and second floors. Today the Society functions through its 6 regional associations, 16 sections and several workgroups. Since the Republic of Croatia gained independence, the Croatian Pharmaceutical Society has vigorously intensified its work and activities of great importance for the pharmaceutical profession ̶ professional training of pharmacists, publishing activity, public health projects, international collaboration, etc. We hope that the proactive work of the Society will continue in the future, and that it will be the centre of advanced pharmacy and pharmaceutical excellence, the members’ meeting place, a credible partner of health and educational institutions, pharmaceutical industry and all those in any way involved in the health system, always focusing on medicines and patient care. All the foregoing allows the conclusion that the book is about a physical and symbolic place. The place that was shaped by the establishment of the seventh pharmacy in Zagreb and its plotting on the city map, the place that has witnessed rotation, mobility and operation of pharmacists and stimulated investments. The place that has finally surpassed the pharmacy as a health institution, developing into the multipurpose professional centre of the Pharmacy House. The tissue of this text was formed by monitoring and recording of the events leading to emergence of this physical place and involvement of protagonists who have defined it through their personal and professional needs. |
