Herbs and Apothecaries – The Health Labs

Author: Margherita Breccia Fratadocchi, Simonetta Buttò (edited by)
Year of publication:
Publishing house: Catalogue - AMP editions - Centro Studi Aboca Museum - Rome.

Welcome Even today I remember perfectly the impressions that my first contact with an ancient medieval herbarium in a historic and beautiful Roman library aroused in me: admiration and curiosity. The latter was definitely mortified by my lack of familiarity with the subject of the volume. That distant impression has always remained so vivid that I was very happy to take the opportunity to collaborate with the Smithsonian Institution for the realization of the PLANT project - Plantarum Aetatis Novae Tabulae, a project that has allowed us to achieve scientific and popularization objectives of absolute importance and has been a further incentive to study and enhance the documentary heritage preserved by the Institute. Other interesting stimuli came from the collaboration with the Library of the Accademia Lancisiana, at the Ospedale del Santo Spirito, with which the splendid project was realized that revitalized the cultural heritage of the ancient and noble institution. It was a truly rich experience, both culturally and humanly; an experience further enhanced by frequent contacts with the adjacent Academy of Health Art and its precious museum heritage. A fascinating universe, especially for those who, like me, trace their origins to the land that saw the birth of the first medical university in the world. Curiosity cannot fail to find fertile ground in the mysterious world of medicinal plants, which have always been credited with almost magical powers, for both good and evil. Real and presumed powers whose scientific determination is not always completely certain; powers that have accompanied and conditioned the very existence of man throughout his history. The plant world becomes an expression and symbol of civilization: just think of the olive tree and the vine and their meaning throughout the Mediterranean area. And what about those ancient precepts, more or less therapeutic, handed down by written tradition, and the temptation they arouse in each of us to put them to the test to see if and how much they really work? A universe, that of the ancient herbals, which aims at the vital essence, at the active principles, and which has a taste of magic, of alchemy, of secrets passed down among initiates, because they are too difficult to penetrate and study or too dangerous to be divulged. Where was the research of those ancient scholars directed? What survives of it and of them? To what extent was that first empiricism sufficient for the needs of man? It was also to answer these questions that the National Central Library of Rome wanted to organize the exhibition Herbs and Apothecaries. Health laboratories, launching its proposal for collaboration with the most prestigious institutions. The first success is that all of them joined with enthusiasm, willing to make available their heritage of knowledge and goods, real relics, to complete the exhibition-documentary core owned by the Library. Such enthusiastic participation has contributed significantly to further increasing the cultural value and relevance of the initiative and its dissemination scope. But the fundamental reason why the event was organized is the need to make known and enhance the cultural heritage possessed by our country, which is one of the most important institutional missions of the National Central Library of Rome. In a historical moment like the current one, it may seem rhetorical to recall the values ​​of the culture and historical memory of the Nation, especially when they are universally attributed absolute importance, but only in words; but perhaps it is precisely for this reason that we stubbornly want to insist in the attempt to involve the community, communicating the charm of knowledge in the simplest way, through a story, which also unfolds through images, aimed at presenting an adventure in the history of man that is not yet over and that perhaps, precisely because of the evocative potential and the mysterious intrinsic attraction that it manages to emanate, will never end. Ours is also the task of ensuring that it never ends, by valorizing it today and passing it on to future generations as a precious legacy of thought and knowledge of which every people is a child and which it must neither ignore nor forget. In conclusion, I would like to thank all the partners of this difficult and laborious undertaking, which for reasons of space I cannot list exhaustively and who have operated in perfect synergy with the officials and operators of the National Central Library of Rome to whom goes all my heartfelt appreciation. Director of the National Central Library of Rome

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