Global Arab Network | Al-Nuri Bimarstan in Syria - The First Medical School in the East

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Al-Nuri Bimarstan in Syria - The First Medical School in the East

Global Arab Network - - George Haddad

Thursday, 22 October 2009 15:30

Al-Nuri Bimarstan is one of Damascus ancient buildings and its most important Bimarstans built by King Nur al-Din al-Zinki. It lies to the southeastern part of one end of Souk al-Hamidiyeh, near al-Khayateen Bazaar. It dates back to 549 B.C. It is a pattern of the Saljoqi period architecture in its design and architectural elements.

Bimarstan is a Persian word of two parts: Bimar means sick and –stan is a place or location suffix.

The Bimarstan consists of different departments specialized in internal diseases, surgery, ophthalmology, and orthopedics as well as special department for treating mental diseases, outpatient clinics, a library and a pharmacy to extract medicine, Director of the National Museum of Arabic Medicine and Sciences Ilham Mahfod said in a statement to SANA.

The museum is divided into four main halls; the sciences hall includes pictures on the development of sciences in the Arab history such as astronomic instruments including the astrolabe and a ringing clock in addition to al-Farabi musical instrument.

The second hall is the medicine hall dating back to the 12th century it includes medical encyclopedias in the 9th and 10th centuries such as "The Canon of Medicine" by Ibn Sina and al-Razi's book in medicine "al-Hawi" as well as old medical manuscripts and surgical instruments.

The pharmacy hall in which we find instruments and equipment used to mix, grind and combine medicine extracted from medicinal plants.

Stuffed birds and animals as well as a library including valuable medical manuscripts, books, volumes and researches can be seen at the fourth hall.

There is an exhibition for medical pictures and scientific manuscripts at the Bimarstan square as well as the most important plants used in medicine extraction which were widespread at that time. Special corner of eastern musical instruments used in treating psychological diseases is to be established as soon as possible, she added. (SANA)

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