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Pharmaceutical Kyiv

Kyiv aptechnyi (Pharmaceutical Kyiv) is the title of the sixth book in the Kyivan Miniatures series by the noted Kyivan historian and writer Vitalii Kovalynsky, which was recently published with financial support from a local pharmaceutical company, Pharmacy of Hormonal Medications. The author met and befriended its director Viktor Zhuravliov while organizing a Pharmacy Museum that opened last year in Solomianka district (Den no. 75, May 13, 2006).

I am pleased to note that philanthropy, to which Vitalii Kovalynsky dedicated one of his previous books and which made Kyiv famous starting in the second half of the 19th century, is being revived by modern Kyiv businesspeople, who care about the history of their city and want to help popularize it. All the books in the Kyivan Miniatures series are based on documented facts and archival finds. Thematically they reveal various, at times little-known aspects of Kyiv life.

Kovalynsky’s historical sketches deal with the history of Kyiv churches, palaces, squares, streets, banking, city public baths, restrooms, and even brothels.

The new publication describes the development of Kyiv’s centuries-old pharmaceutical business, starting with the good deeds of Antonii, one of the founders of the Kyivan Cave Monastery, and a physician by the name of Ahapit, and ending with the development of a chain of pharmacies in the early 20th century. Kyiv aptechny is about Kyiv pharmacists whose names were hushed up, with the result that today they are practically unknown in the city. Through the author’s painstaking archival research, names like Heiter, Tetzner, Eisman, Frommetti, Bunge, Martsynchyk, and Popov have been returned from oblivion. The book contains a number of interesting illustrations courtesy of Ukraine’s Museum of Medicine, Pharmacy Museum, and Museum of Book and Printing. There are also photos from Zhuravliov and the author’s private collections.

The recent launch of the new book was attended by descendants of the Martsynchyk and Popov pharmaceutical dynasties. They thanked the author for honoring their ancestors’ memory and said they were sure the book would be interesting not only to Kyivans but also a broad range of readers.

Read Kyiv aptechnyi and stay healthy.

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