An intriguing exhibition is on at the Saints Cyril and Methodius National Library in Sofia until the end of February. The exhibition displays a great many rare domestic recipes and instructions on how to make medicines, ointments and different kinds of herbal infusions. The dosing for many of them is encrypted and can only be deciphered by initiated healers.

The exhibits include a Greek book of medical and pharmaceutical recipes, household advice, incantations and magic medical formulas, which gives a detailed description of the mandragora, a legendary plant which screams in a human voice if it is pulled out of the ground.

The exhibition Books of domestic medicine, herbs, saintsdemonstrates that different kinds of diseases were recorded as early as the Middle Ages right up to the time of the National Revival, a time when quite a few Bulgarians started travelling to Europe and bringing back home European medical literature which they translated into Bulgarian.