Town Hall Pharmacy

Town Hall Pharmacy Tallinn tour — Europe’s oldest pharmacy

The Town Hall Pharmacy Tallinn tour takes you inside a place where time seems to have stood completely still — a working pharmacy on Town Hall Square that has filled prescriptions since at least 1422. That makes it the oldest continuously operating pharmacy in Europe still standing in its original premises. Step through the door with me and you’ll hear what people once traded for a cure, and why a humble apothecary became one of the most storied addresses in the medieval city.

What you’ll see on this tour

• Town Hall Square — we meet on the square, where I’ll explain how medieval Tallinn grew and why a pharmacy opened in this exact spot.
• Inside the pharmacy — antique apothecary jars and a remarkable collection of historic remedies still line the shelves.
• The remedy museum — in the second room you’ll marvel at ancient cures and their almost unbelievable ingredients, from mumia powder to far stranger things.
• The Burchart family story — we finish with the dynasty that ran this pharmacy for ten generations.

Inside the Town Hall Pharmacy Tallinn tour

We begin out on Town Hall Square, in the very heart of the Old Town. I’ll set the scene: how the medieval city took shape around this square, and why an apothecary became such an essential fixture for merchants, town councillors and ordinary residents alike. By the time the pharmacy first appears in written records in 1422, it was already on its third owner — so its true beginnings reach back even further into the Hanseatic past.

Then we step inside. The glorious history of the pharmacy is inextricably linked with the Burchart family, who ran it for a staggering ten generations. By family tradition the first-born son was always named Johann — and it isn’t hard to guess what profession awaited him. One day, naturally, he would become the town pharmacist. As we move past the antique apothecary jars and the remedy collection, I’ll show you how medicine was practised when these shelves were first stocked, and how very differently illness was understood.

Even if you have no health concerns whatsoever, the pharmacy is well worth a visit for its sheer antiquity and mesmerising atmosphere. In the second room you’ll find a small museum where the ancient remedies — and their unbelievable ingredients — are on display. You can only hope today’s medicines have replaced them with something else entirely. But then again, who knows? Perhaps you’ll still find traces of mummy fragments or dog dung tucked into the recipe for some old miracle cure. This Town Hall Pharmacy Tallinn tour is the calm, curious way to peer into that world.

Town Hall Pharmacy Tallinn tour at a glance

• Duration: about 30 minutes
• Difficulty: easy — a short, gentle indoor visit
• Group size: 1–15 people
• Languages: English or Estonian
• Meeting point: Town Hall Square, in the Old Town
• Suitable from: all ages

The Town Hall Pharmacy Tallinn tour is short enough to slot easily into a day in the Old Town, and it can be booked directly online. Choose your language and time, and I’ll meet you on the square.

You may also like

• 7 Legends of the Tallinn Old Town
• Women of the Old Town
• Tallinn Church Tour
• Browse all Tallinn tours

Available upon request for an additional fee:

• Tasting of claret (spiced wine) and/or marzipan;

• Crushing medicinal herbs, culinary herbs, and spices with a mortar and pestle;

• Crafting Town Hall herb salt, spiced sugar, herbal tea blends, or bath salts.