The Drug Dealer
Bernardin Duranc, an apothecary from Montpellier, had the idea as early as 1588 to establish a “Droguier” to demonstrate, in front of the “medical students,” the preparation of drugs—the medicinal formulations of the time.
Having more or less fallen into obscurity, the Droguier was revived with the founding of the School of Pharmacy in 1803. As France’s second-largest drugstore after the one in Paris, it is one of the last living testaments to the history of European pharmacopoeia. It houses a unique collection of approximately 15,000 samples of medicinal substances, most of which are of plant origin.
The Droguier complex was designated a Historic Monument on November 20, 2009, by the Languedoc-Roussillon Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs.
On December 1, 2021, the Droguier Chair, chaired by the director of the Pharmacy Department, was established within the University of Montpellier Foundation.
