Museum für medizinhistorische Bücher Muri

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Museum für medizinhistorische Bücher Muri

“A fascinating journey through time”

The broad spectrum of books on display ranges from 1480 to 1800 and includes magnificent anatomical volumes, herbal books and natural history encyclopaedias. Recipes for the production of remedies and instructions for surgical procedures are just as much part of the natural knowledge of the time as unicorns or dragons. The interactive touchscreens allow visitors, regardless of their previous knowl

edge, to actively browse through the works and make their own discoveries. The current special exhibition "Growth, Herbals in the Renaissance" sheds light on the enormous development that took place thanks to the possibilities of book printing.

29/05/2026

Human face ambivalent character

“The harpia kills a human. However when it sees its own image in the water with its human face it will be filled with sorrow every day with the realisation that it killed its own.“

The woodcuts of this incunabula (meaning when book printing began in Europe around before 1500) are reduced to clear shapes. The texts give an insight to the view of nature and medical culture in the Middle Ages.

PLATE LXII
ORTUS SANITATIS DE HERBIS ET PLANTIS
ANONYMOUS
1497

22/05/2026

This woodcut is from W.H. Ryffs booklet of 1564. It has left our museum for a little trip to Zug. There in the you can see it on display in their current exhibition “Hûs, stat, fëld” about the Middle Ages – in all its aspects. Really well worth a visit!

PEONIES
W.H. RYFF
HANDBÜCHLIN VILER ARTZNEYEN…
1564

15/05/2026

Orte, die faszinieren – in Kunst, Wissenschaft und Religion

Wir feiern den Internationalen Museumstag – 3 Museen – 3 Geschichten aus verschiedenen Jahrhunderten in 1 Führung

Sonntag, 17. Mai 2026, 14h

Eintritt frei

Captivating places – in art, science and religion

We celebrate International Museum Day – 3 museums – 3 stories from different centuries in 1 tour

Sunday, 17th May 2026, 2pm

Entrance free

1 ANDREAS VESALIUS, DE HUMANI CORPORIS FABRICA LIBRI SEPTEM, 1555

2 CASPAR WOLF, LE GRAND THEATRE DES ALPES ET GLACIERS, 1786, DETAIL

3 THE BUILDING IN MURI HOUSING THE 3 MUSEUMS

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08/05/2026

Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) tells us that in the waters of Suriname a type of cress grows that is used like spinach and in salads. She finds the addition of the frog visually pleasing and then continues to describe the particularities of the P**a P**a frog, depicting it with eggs and tiny frogs on its back. This is believed to be the first such illustration and already at the time attracted a lot of attention.

Merians work on Suriname aroused great interest even before its publication. Its special attraction lies in the adventurous and daring expedition this confident and independent woman went on with her one of her daughters, as well as the methodical observation, description and artistic depiction of tropical insects, animals and plants. The insights she gives in her text show yet another dimension in her passion to observe and understand.

Plate 59/P**a P**a frog
Maria Sibylla Merian
Dissertatio de Generatione et Metamorphosibus Insectorum Surinamensium
1726

01/05/2026

Buyers of botanical collections were primarily apothecaries who needed guidelines that were as lifelike as possible for determining pharmaceutical plants. The particular beauty of these books – produced by nature printing and subsequent colouring - made them very desirable to a much wider readership. On display in the Museum.

ECHINOPS
Johann Hieronymus Kniphof
Botanica In Originali
Centuria IV
Halle 1761

24/04/2026

Plant, bee and snake

Named herba venaria this plant today many translate into a type of iris – with the yellow iris a favourite. The fun shape above the snake – yes I kind of thought can this be a bee? The
accompanying text says I guessed correctly - the iris should be hung in the beehive in order to stop bees wanting to swarm or escape.

And the snake? It stand for a medicinal use. The plant mixed with other ingredients was used for various ailments – at the time…disclaimer…do not use any suggestions without deep knowledge, as plants and also uses can vary greatly in today’s context.

HERBA VENERIA
APULEIUS PLATONICUS
HERBARIUS
1481

17/04/2026

April and May

…flowering in April and May…find also in Switzerland in the mountainous regions in damp and shady places and in woodlands… author in 1829)

The author also mentions great care needs to be taken on how to use it.

OXALIS ACETOSELLA
DR. FRIEDRICH GOTTLOB HAYNE
J.F. BRAND & J.T.C. RATZEBURG

ARZNEYGEWÄCHSE
1829

10/04/2026

Star giraffe over decades

This illustration was copied by Ambroise Paré, a French surgeon (1510-1590) from Conrad Gessner’s animal book. Gessner copied the illustration in his 1560 edition from Melchior Lorcks 1559 drawing – in 1610 Peter Uffenbach published a compilation of various authors such as Paré and the giraffe shows up unchanged again.

GIRAFFE
PETER UFFENBACH
THESAURUS CHIRURGIAE
1610, 1st edition

03/04/2026

Happy Easter!
Back by popular demand some decorating inspiration…

Instigated by a couple of years back I go on my own egg
hunt inside the museums books to find some beautifully coloured images – originally it was fish but now extended to the plant world!

Enjoy! And get creative.

GOTTLIEB TOBIAS WILHELM, UNTERHALTUNGEN AUS DER
NATURGESCHICHTE, PFLANZENREICH
AUGSBURG 1799 - 1820

27/03/2026

Roots, flowering stage, fruit ready to be picked. The author wanted to show all the seasonal stages as well as details and variations of this sorb tree.

The first German edition of the „Kreuterbuch“ by Leonhart Fuchs (1501-1566) contains 512 woodcuts. They illustrate known medicinal herbs in a way that is very close to nature. The precision of the illustrations was intended to rule out erroneous medical applications. In addition to two directories of plant names in German and Latin, an index of known diseases facilitates the finding of each presented remedy.

SPEIERLING (Plate CCCXXVII)
LEONHART FUCHS
NEW KREUTERBUCH (HERBAL)
1543

Adresse

Marktstrasse 4
Muri
5630

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+41566647011

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http://mmbm.ch/

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