The only museum dedicated to the history of medicine on the Balkans is
located in Varna. Founded in 1869 as the first charity hospital in Bulgaria,
today the Museum of the History of Medicine is under the administrative
management of “St. Marina” University Hospital - Varna and Medical University -
Varna.
Although the history of the Bulgarian medicine is exhibited in a
building not larger than 400 square meters, its entire development is shown
here - from the Antiquity to the Renaissance and the development of the medical
services after the Liberation of Bulgaria. More than 4 000 medical books are collected here, one of the richest paleoanthropological collections in the country, medical instruments from the Thracians, the Greek colonization, the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Bulgarian state. A variety of
folk-medical devices and medicines, handicraft pliers for teeth extraction and
many others can be seen in the museum. The collection of dental chairs and
equipment that the “teeth” doctors had at their disposal more than 100 years
ago is incredibly interesting. In the museum there is a variety of equipment -
from X-rays to ultrasound scanner. Here you can get a real idea of the
surgeries and pharmacies at the beginning of the last century.