Raeapteek

Opposite the Town Hall, at 11 Raekoja plats, it is one of the oldest continuously running pharmacies in Europe, having always been in business in the same house since the early 15th century.

The first known image of the Town-Hall Pharmacy is an oil painting by Gustav Adolph Oldekop, showing Tallinn's Town Hall Square in 1800.

In a town council's notebook, there is an entry by a chemist named Nuclawes who stated that the owners of the pharmacy are 10 honourable men, the majority of whom are aldermen.

Between 1579 and 1581, a Hungarian immigrant named Johann Burchart Both Belavary de Sykava, moved to Tallinn from his hometown of Pressburg (present day Bratislava) and obtained a lease from the city council to run the business of the pharmacy.

This tradition was carried on for eight further generations, until the late 19th century with the birth of the tenth firstborn son in 1843 called Johann X Burchart.

In 1690, the Burchart dynasty and Town-Hall Apothecary's rights and obligations were confirmed with a privilege written by the ruling king Charles XI of Sweden.

In 1802, Johann Burchart VIII established a private museum of local life and curiosities, calling it "Mon faible".

Presently the main part of the pharmacy is located on the first floor and sells most modern medicines, including aspirin, and even supplies condoms.

Near the modern pharmacy on the first floor there is a small museum displaying old medical instruments, historical chemist tools and other curiosities.