On June 27th, during our fifth photowalk, Hidden Lab, we stepped through an unassuming door and were immediately met by the sharp, nostalgic scent of chemicals and medicine. It felt like entering a sealed world, one that hadn’t shifted in decades. Dust floated gently in the light and silence filled the air, broken only by the sound of camera shutters and quiet conversation.
Downstairs, the pharmacy appeared almost untouched. Lined with colored bottles, hand-painted porcelain jars, and Viennese woodwork bearing the initials of pharmacist Gheorghe Hotăranu, it offered a rare insight into a nearly forgotten profession. This was more than a backdrop — it was a place that had worked, healed and endured.
Upstairs, we discovered a different kind of story. The residential floors still held their shape and rhythm: bedrooms with carved furniture, desks covered in papers, books and faded photographs. We found trays of slides, handwritten notes, even instruments and medical journals. It was haunting, but never cold — like a life paused mid-sentence.
As we moved through the space, cameras in hand, we exchanged impressions and discoveries, pointing out details, catching frames, sharing that familiar thrill of stumbling onto something truly rare. The energy was quiet but charged — the kind that only comes when curious people gather to explore.
This building may soon become Bucharest’s first Museum of Pharmacy, and rightfully so. But for a few hours, it was just ours. And that feeling — of seeing something before it’s transformed, of holding a moment between past and future — is something we’ll carry with us, frame by frame.
We’re already looking forward to seeing what comes out of everyone’s rolls and to planning the next photowalk. Until then — stay curious, stay analog and keep exploring.
