Museum of the History of Medicine

Overview

The idea to create a museum arose in 1969 among the Varna medical community during the celebration of the centenary of the founding of the charity hospital, built with the funds of Paraskeva Nikolaou from Varna. In 1978 the idea grew into a decision of the District People's Council - Varna. The hospital has been determined as the base of the new museum. The complex of a Revival building and a chapel were restored and declared a cultural monument in 1982 by the National Institute for Cultural Monuments. The task of creating a Museum of the History of Medicine has been assigned to Dr. Ivan Kapinchev. He defines the concept of the museum exhibition and coordinates the activities of the teams of specialists. Prominent archaeologists, anthropologists, ethnographers, historians, pharmacists, historians of medicine, architects and others work together. As a result of their efforts, a complete concept is formed. In parallel with the external and internal architectural layout, intensive collecting activities are undertaken, which are characterized by visits to old medical families and receipt by donation or payment of antique tools, furniture and medical literature; preparation of copies of cultural monuments, stored in museums and galleries around the country and related to medicine in the Bulgarian lands; collection of public organizations, collectors and individuals of objects, tools, documents, photographs and others related to public medical events and prominent medical figures; acquainting the public with the creation of the museum. Materials have been collected from all over Bulgaria and this determines the national appearance of the museum. The museum opened its doors in 1985. Initially, it was a unit of the Institute of Health Education - Sofia, with the status of a "Museum collection on the history of medicine." Since the end of 2016, the Public Collection "History of Medicine on the territory of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast" (Museum of the History of Medicine) is part of the structure of the Medical University "Prof. Dr. Paraskev Stoyanov ”- Varna. Paraskeva Nikolaou is probably the biggest donor to Varna. He donated a hospital to his hometown, bequeathed part of his fortune for the construction of the church of St. Nicholas, for scholarships to Varna children who studied trade in Athens, for dowries for orphaned girls. Biographical data about this patriotic citizen of Varna are very scarce. The year of his birth is not known, but it is known that he is "a Christian of the Orthodox faith, a native of Varna, a coastal city in Bulgaria." It is supposed to be of Gagauz-Greek origin. From his will we learn: “I have no heirs in the direct line: I am childless and unmarried; I have no parents because they died, I only have relatives from my two sisters Anta and Paraskoviya, namely their children and grandchildren, but I don't know how many they are and what they are called, because many years have passed, how far I am from my native Varna … ”. In the middle of the 19th century Paraskeva Nikolau fled from enslaved Bulgaria and settled in Odessa. There he managed to accumulate considerable wealth as a major merchant and even became an honorary citizen of the city. On an area of ​​400 sq.m. in three chronologically arranged exhibition halls and two foyers the development of medicine as a practice, art and science from the deepest antiquity to the present day is traced.