ACTIVITIES
A work in progress: knowledge, the arts and young people turn heritage into measurable action, with a European outlook.
AIS Annual Forum
The AIS Annual Forum is the main institutional and scientific meeting of the route, held annually in a member country. It brings together network representatives, researchers, heritage professionals and international stakeholders to discuss strategies, share results and define future priorities. The Forum combines scientific sessions, working groups and governance moments, contributing to the coordinated development of the route and transnational cooperation.
The International Seminar “The Hygeia Legacy”
“The Hygeia Legacy” is the annual international seminar involving the AIS university network. It addresses, in an interdisciplinary way, the main dimensions of the European Route of Historic Pharmacies and Medicinal Gardens: governance, economic sustainability, socio-economic impact, safeguarding and transmission of cultural and natural heritage linked to the history of pharmacy and materia medica, education, sustainable cultural tourism and contemporary practices.
Discover Pharmacy Museums
“Discover Pharmacy Museums” is an initiative aimed at promoting and disseminating the heritage of historic pharmacies and museums within the AIS network. Through coordinated digital content campaigns, it enhances awareness of places like pharmacy museums and medicinal gardens, strengthening the link between heritage, communities and territorial identity. It contributes to increasing the international visibility of the route, while fostering heritage education and sustainable cultural tourism.
The European Symposium “Drugs and Colors”
The European Symposium “Drugs and Colors” is a high-level international conference, held every three years, dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of natural substances, pigments and historical pharmaceutical practices. It brings together experts in the fields of history of pharmacy, chemistry, botany and heritage conservation, promoting an integrated approach between science and culture. It strengthens the position of the route as a European reference in research on pharmaceutical heritage and materia medica.
Spices. Taste, smell and memory in Europe
The SPICES project focuses on the valorisation of spices and aromatic plants as European cultural heritage. Through the documentation of culinary practices and traditional knowledge across different countries, the project contributes to the creation of an audiovisual archive of materia medica. SPICES promotes biodiversity safeguarding and the recognition of the role of local communities and women in knowledge transmission.