The Benedictine apothecary of the Pope's collections
Hypericum, Mallow, Dandelion, Wormwood, Belladonna, Cardamom, Rosewater or Chicory Water. The names of ancient remedies, distillates, syrups, painted in blue on finely decorated ceramic vessels, are reviewed as one gazes along the wooden shelves of the Spezieria of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, set up in a hall of the Vatican Museums recently opened to the public.
Objects from ancient times
The history of the objects displayed here is fascinating, a total of 1,579 items, including majolica, mortars, scales, spatulas, pestles, wooden or Murano glass containers, with curious shapes that evoke distant times.
As you observe the press, perhaps carved in medieval times from an ancient stone capital, the scales with the image of Saint Cecilia, the straw-covered flasks, the vials, a glass jar containing corals, deer antlers, and wild boar teeth inside wooden boxes, or the mysterious small plates, each bearing two letters of the alphabet, you get the impression that time has stood still in this room.
Many questions come to mind. How did a glimpse of the life of an ancient pharmacy find its way into the artistic heritage of the Pope's Museums?
Saint Cecilia and the care of the poor
Caring for and welcoming the poor has characterized the house in which Cecilia, a 3rd century martyr and the patron saint of music, lived from the earliest days.
A basilica and a monastic complex were built near the building that stood in the Anicia insula, in Trastevere, one of the oldest areas of Rome. At least from the ninth century, a female religious community was established there without interruption.
