Flourishing Medicine

Flourishing Medicine at the Austrian Open-Air Museum Stübing tells of the healing practices that lived on for many generations in rural farms in Styria. When the journey to the doctor was long, knowledge of herbs, roots, flowers, and resins from gardens, meadows, and forests was invaluable. The exhibition illustrates how closely everyday life, nature, and health were once interconnected and how plants were transformed into teas, ointments, plasters, and tinctures. It showcases traces from antiquity through medieval monastery gardens to folk medicine, which continues to have an impact, especially in rural areas, to this day. Home gardens served as small pantries in the open air, where medicinal plants grew alongside culinary herbs and flowers, often tended with great knowledge and a steady hand. Much of this knowledge was passed down within families, often by women who knew the names, effects, and proper applications of these plants. The trade in rare spices and precious remedies from the Orient is also highlighted. On May 17, 2026, this exhibition will provide an insightful look into plant knowledge, ways of life, and self-sufficiency in rural areas. This theme fits particularly well in Stübing, where historical buildings, gardens, and landscapes tell the story almost effortlessly. A quiet, detailed tour through herbal medicine, everyday history, and natural knowledge in the Graz experience region. Amidst old farms and herb beds, history becomes tangible, calm, and down-to-earth, right in the green, in Stübing and close to Graz, in Styria.