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The Semmelweis Museum, revisited

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One of our priorities on this trip was to re-visit the Ignatz Semmelweis Museum, which we first saw in 2001. (He was a pioneer doctor who realized that the reason so many women got “childbed fever” and died after childbirth was that doctors didn’t think it necessary to wash their hands when going from a patient dying of infection to treating a woman in labor.)

Last time we decided not to pay the extra fee for taking pictures and later regretted it. This time, we went through and got some good pictures.

Learn more about Dr. Semmelweis?

Dr. Semmelweis grew up in the house that is now his museum - above is the study with pictures of Semmelweis and his wife. At right is a group of antique potions- the Latin inscription on the red one translates as "Dragon's Blood".

Semmelweis is buried in the courtyard of the house, the monument shown above. The statue of mother and child at right is a recent, quite appropriate addition. Interestingly too, while we were there we saw a small lizard- maybe an inch and a half long- sunning itself near the statue. We hadn’t known any variety of lizard was native to Hungary.

At left, we see some surgical instruments of Semmelweis' day.. Some were pretty scary; some have changed little to the present time.

Interestingly, Regina had the "opportunity" to experience modern dentistry in Budapest. . She'd been up most of the first night with a toothache that had been aggravated by the pressure changes of our flights and it turned out to be abscessed. The concierge at the Hilton found us a dental clinic with English-speaking staff open on Saturday morning. It was staffed largely by young women in white uniforms and (Ron noticed) thong underwear.

A nice English-speaking dentist did a skillful extraction and then she sent us on our way. Total tab, including the X-rays: $81. The place was spotless and the X-ray machine was state-of-the-art. The extraction pliers looked pretty much like the ones in the Semmelweis Museum but the Novocain was a definite modern-day improvement.