Pharmacy Barbosa

Pharmacy Barbosa belonged to the monastery of Paço de Sousa and functioned as a pharmacy of the convent, with its numerous niches and shelves, filled with examples of 18th century Portuguese pharmacy faience.
The apothecary display, after the frame, is decorated with artistic carved works, bearing in the center the initials of the founder of the pharmacy in the village of Paço de Sousa - Manuel Rodrigues Barbosa. He had practiced and exercised the profession of pharmacist in the monastery pharmacy, having acquired in 1834 the frame, books, various instruments and other artifacts from the Monastery of Paço de Sousa, when the religious orders in Portugal were extinguished.
The original pharmacy ceiling is also part of the ensemble, decorated with a border with Baroque-inspired plant motifs. The central niche of larger dimensions is intended to receive a religious image that guided the pharmacist's operations. The shelving bodies with shelves have drawers at the bottom, to receive medicinal and simple plants, while on the shelves are the famous straws, pots and jars of botica painted by hand or stamped, of profuse Baroque ornamentation or representing coats of arms. private and religious. With a two-tone blue monochromatic painting, some have the Latin inscription of the therapeutic product inside, or even a reservation intended to receive the label or inscription. A large majority of the Portuguese faience displayed in this pharmacy belonged to conventual apothecaries of such diverse religious orders. , such as that of the Augustinians, Carmelites, Dominicans, S. Filipe de Nery (Oratorio), Third Order of S. Francisco, Jesuits, Poor Clares and even to the monastic-military orders of Aviz and Santiago. It is also worth mentioning the excellent collection of straws and pots that belonged to the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Viana pharmacy, which placed its order at the Darque factory in 1774.