La grande aventure du savoir médical

Curated by Dr Philippe Abastado, a clinical cardiologist and research director in applied epistemology of medicine at the University of Paris 7, the exhibition explores the transmission of medical knowledge from Antiquity to the Modern Era. A human endeavor for humanity, medicine passes from one civilization to another despite wars and conflicts, despite political and economic vicissitudes, and sometimes despite religious and moral reservations.

From Greece to Rome, from Rome to Alexandria, from Alexandria to Baghdad, from Baghdad to Padua… the book serves as the principal tool of medical knowledge, and also testifies to the extraordinary continuity of the medical profession’s ethics, particularly in its relationship with patients. Medical texts remain alive, as shown by numerous works annotated and commented on by physicians across generations, sometimes in different languages.

Between the 7th and the 16th centuries CE, the Arab-Muslim world profoundly shaped medicine through a major evolution of both concepts and techniques. This long period opens and closes with a linguistic revolution: the shift from Greek to Arabic, then from Arabic to Latin, two pivotal moments that prompted questioning and debate.

Across the exhibition’s five themes—translating, transmitting, debating, experimenting, caring—sumptuously illuminated manuscripts, incunabula, and printed works illustrated with engravings form the core of the presentation, alongside objects used in pharmacopoeia and surgery. In parallel with the heritage collection, digital interactive features invite visitors to discover the geography of this medical journey, its major figures, their theories of the body, their consultation practices, their recommendations for preserving good health, and the preparation of compound medicines…

The exhibition aims to raise awareness of medical knowledge as the product of a centuries‑long mingling of peoples and influences, promoting tolerance and openness to others in our times of identity retreat and entrenched certainties.