Musée Flaubert, Medical history museum in Rouen, France.
Musée Flaubert occupies a former hospital building and displays medical instruments, pharmaceutical items, and objects from different periods to show how healthcare was practiced over time. The collection spans several centuries of medical care and treatment methods.
The building was originally the Hôtel-Dieu, a major hospital in Rouen where surgeons and physicians worked for centuries. It became a museum after World War II to preserve the history of medicine and the site's medical heritage.
The apothecary section displays how medicines were prepared and stored in past times, with shelves filled with glass bottles and tools that reveal daily pharmaceutical practices. Walking through these rooms gives a sense of how people approached healing in earlier centuries.
The museum is centrally located in Rouen and easily accessible by public transport or on foot. Plan to spend about an hour and a half to explore the displays and garden at a comfortable pace.
One section of the museum preserves a birthing room connected to a significant literary figure, adding a personal dimension to the medical displays. This unusual detail links the medical history with the cultural identity of Rouen in an unexpected way.
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