Aromas Itinerarium Salutis celebrates International Museum Day 2026 with the video ‘One route, many voices’

Promoted by AIS since 2022 in connection with ICOM’s International Museum Day, this initiative brings together pharmacy museums, historic pharmacies and medicinal gardens belonging to the route’s international network. The 2026 edition is inspired by the theme chosen by the International Council of Museums (ICOM): ‘Museums Uniting a Divided World’.

The video places not only the sites themselves at the centre, but above all the people who care for them and the relationships that connect them. It offers a portrait of an international community working to protect and promote Europe’s cultural heritage as common ground for dialogue, cooperation and mutual understanding.

Discover Pharmacy Museums 2026: an international collective project

Discover Pharmacy Museums is a participatory communication initiative inviting members of the AIS network to share, in their own voices, the cultural and human value of the heritage they preserve.

In 2026, participants reflect on a simple yet powerful question: what does it mean to be part of Aromas Itinerarium Salutis – The European Route of Historic Pharmacies and Medicinal Gardens?

The result is a mosaic of testimonies from different European countries, united by a shared vision of heritage as a tool for intercultural dialogue and sustainable development.

Heritage is not inherited; it is built

The video opens with a phrase that captures the deeper meaning of the initiative:

‘Heritage is not something we are born with. It is something we become.’

Heritage is not only what we receive from the past, but what we choose to safeguard, interpret and pass on to future generations.

For the members of AIS, this means placing the history of pharmacy on Europe’s cultural map, making visible a shared legacy that intertwines science, nature and memory.

What it means to be part of Aromas Itinerarium Salutis

The testimonies featured in the video show that being part of the route represents far more than a formal affiliation.

Being part of AIS means:

• sharing historical and scientific knowledge;
• collaborating with institutions from different countries;
• developing joint projects;
• increasing the visibility of one’s heritage;
• contributing to the preservation of the memory of care.

For many members, joining the route also represents a true European seal of quality, strengthening credibility, reputation and international recognition.

Materia medica as a shared European cultural heritage

One of the central messages of the video concerns the value of materia medica, understood as the heritage of knowledge, practices and memories linked to the therapeutic use of plants, minerals and natural substances.

Through materia medica, historic pharmacies and medicinal gardens tell a shared story that connects territories, knowledge systems and communities.

This heritage helps to:

• preserve the memory of healing practices;
• promote biodiversity;
• foster dialogue between culture and science;
• pass on the value of traditional knowledge to younger generations.

Pharmacy museums and intercultural dialogue

The participants’ words converge around a shared understanding: pharmacy museums, although rooted in different geographical and cultural contexts, speak a common language.

It is a language of objects, recipes, medicinal plants and stories of healing that bear witness to a shared European heritage.

Discover Pharmacy Museums 2026 shows how pharmaceutical heritage can become a tangible instrument for intercultural dialogue, mutual understanding and international cooperation.