Bananal, in the interior of São Paulo, was once one of Brazil’s wealthiest cities during the coffee boom. One of the remaining vestiges of its golden age is Pharmacia Popular, Brazil’s oldest pharmacy still in operation. Founded nearly 200 years ago, it played a key role in serving the region’s coffee elite.
Today, the site operates as a modern pharmacy, but retains traces of its imperial past. Learn about its history below!
The Imperial Past of Pharmacia Popular
The establishment was founded in 1830 by the Frenchman Tourin Domingos Mosnier. Originally called Pharmacia Imperial, it was the region’s main pharmacy, meeting the needs of the major coffee farmers.
Its interior reflected the status of the monarchy: the floor featured French tiles, and the furniture was made of Portuguese Riga pine, one of the rarest and finest woods in the Old World.
With the Proclamation of the Republic in 1889, the owners changed the name to Pharmacia Popular to adapt to the country’s new political era. Despite the change, the building remained one of the main landmarks in Bananal.
What does Brazil’s oldest pharmacy look like today?
Since its founding, Pharmacia Popular has been owned by four families. The last of these, the Graça family, acquired the business in 1918 on the condition that it preserve its original features.
Plínio Graça, the last owner of this lineage, , transformed the site into a tourist attraction. He maintained the interior as a museum, preserving furniture, bottles, and instruments from the Imperial era.
After Seu Plínio’s death in 2011, the establishment faced a crisis and had to close temporarily. Unable to maintain it, the heir reached out to historic preservation agencies seeking assistance for its conservation. Since the appeal went unanswered, it became necessary to sell the historic furnishings.
Under new management since 2014, the site currently functions as a contemporary pharmacy. Although the museum’s collection is no longer present, the facade with the old “PH” lettering and the French tile floor remain original. Thus, Pharmacia Popular endures, even as the interior has reinvented itself to survive.