VMU Botanical garden included in European Route of Historic Pharmacies and Medicinal Gardens
VMU Botanical garden – member of Aromas Itinerarium Salutis (AIS), included in European Route of Historic Pharmacies and Medicinal Gardens .
The Aromas Itinerarium Salutis Association (AIS) is a non-profit association of indeterminate duration, established in 2021 in Valencia (Spain) with the aim of preserving and promoting the tangible and intangible European heritage related to the history of the pharmacy through the realization and management of The European Route of Historical Pharmacies and Medicinal Gardens.
The European Route of Historical Pharmacies and Medicinal Gardens is a unique route that connects emblematic sites such as monastic pharmacies, ancient hospital and secular pharmacies, historical libraries, and botanical and medicinal gardens. In these places, the transmission of knowledge and traditional practices related to the therapeutic, hygienic, cosmetic, ritual, artistic, and culinary use of medicinal plants has fostered intercultural and interreligious dialogue over centuries. It represents a living natural and cultural heritage that celebrates common European roots and promotes intercultural dialogue, cultural identity, social cohesion, and sustainable human development.
Currently, the European Route of Historical Pharmacies and Medicinal Gardens is represented by eleven European countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and Switzerland) and, through international governance, primarily focuses on the following areas: promoting research and development projects concerning the safeguarding, museumification, and dissemination of this millennia-old legacy, which serves as an inexhaustible source of historical memory and intercultural and intergenerational dialogue; fostering cultural and educational exchanges for young Europeans, leveraging frameworks such as the Erasmus+ program; documenting and promoting contemporary cultural and artistic practices that preserve and perpetuate this rich and ancestral heritage; developing a model of cultural tourism that is sustainable, scientific, and immersive, committed to inclusion and universal accessibility; and applying all of the above in promoting sustainable human development.