Franciscan Monastery & Old Pharmacy

Franjevački samostan Male braće i ljekarna

A pharmacy open since 1317 and a twin-column cloister

Hours

Roughly 9:00–18:00 in summer, 9:00–14:00 in winter (check on site)

Tickets

Cloister and museum about €10 for adults. Church and pharmacy shop free

Address

First building on the left (north) side of Stradun inside Pile Gate, across from Onofrio's Fountain

Step through the first door on Stradun and the noise drops away into a cloister of orange trees and palms, lined with slender paired columns whose capitals are all carved differently. Off one side is a pharmacy that opened in 1317 and still fills prescriptions, one of the oldest working pharmacies in Europe; its rose and lavender creams, made to the friars' old recipes, are the souvenir everyone buys. The small museum next door shows old jars and mortars. Outside, near the entrance, a little stone face juts from the base of the wall: local lore says if you can balance on it facing the wall and pull off your shirt, your wish comes true.