The history of pharmacy in Belarus traces its roots to the 16th century. One of the earliest documented references to a pharmacy in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania is the account of court physician and alchemist Alexander Balinski. In 1506, he brought a pharmacy from Kraków to Vilnius for King Alexander Jagiellon.
Pharmacists soon began appearing on Belarusian lands as well. Historical sources mention Matyushka, a Belarusian pharmacist in Moscow, as well as pharmacists named Stanislav, who worked in Pinsk (1561) and Brest (1566). In the latter case, Stanislav was granted permission to keep a pharmacy storeroom right in the castle.
A particularly notable incident took place in Brest in 1577. Pharmacist Simon Dushinsky (or Rushinsky) filed a complaint with the city court against two women who had vandalized his pharmacy. According to his account, they broke a window, hurled bricks and stones into the premises, and damaged glass vessels containing medicinal liquids. Among them were “vodka rozhannaya” and “vodka serdechnaya.” His pharmacy books also suffered damage, having been soaked in the spilled medicines.
Interestingly, in that era, the term vodka referred not to alcohol, but to spring water infused with medicinal herbs. These infusions were used both internally and externally. There were specialized varieties, stomach, lung, and heart vodkas, each with a specific therapeutic effect.
And so began the history of pharmacy in Belarus.
Source:
Глушанко, Василий Семенович. История фармации [Текст] : пособие для студентов учреждений высш. образования, обучающихся по специальности 1-79 01 08 “Фармация” / В. С. Глушанко, А. А. Герберг, Т. Л. Петрище ; под ред. В. С. Глушанко ; Министерство здравоохранения Республики Беларусь, Витебский государственный ордена Дружбы народов медицинский университет. – Витебск : ВГМУ, 2023. – 562 с.