The "Haus zum Sessel"
Located right in the midst of Basel's historical centre, between the Market Square and St. Peter's Church, is the house "Zum Vorderen Sessel" (easy chair). First mentioned in 1316 as the public bathhouse "Under Krämern" (grocers), the house has a fascinating history. The printer Johannes Amerbach, founding father of the famous family of academics of this name, moved into the house in 1480. In 1507 the house was taken by Johannes Frobenius, probably the most renowned printer of his era. Erasmus of Rotterdam enjoyed the warm hospitality of Froben's house and lived and worked here from 1514 to 1516.
The printers were joined by such prominent illustrators as the young Hans Holbein and his brother Ambrosius, along with the mould carver Urs Graf. In 1526 and 1527 a new arrival came to work here, Froben's personal physician and a doctor still famous today, Theophrastus of Hohenheim, better known by the name he gave himself, Paracelsus.
The house "zum Sessel" has housed the Pharmacy Museum of the University of Basel since 1924. The museum contains one of the world's largest and most important collections of historical pharmaceutical objects and our objective is to highlight the history of pharmacy from the scientific, art-historical and ethnological perspectives.