he building at Antonijas iela 1 was built in 1879 after a design by Heinrich Scheel. It was built as a family home and was turned over to the museum in 1957 after one of Latvia’s most distinguished physicians, Pauls Stradiņš, bequeathed to it the private collection that he began to establish in the 1920s and 1930s. After Stradiņš’ death in 1958, the museum was named after him, and it was opened to the public in 1961.
The purpose of the museum is to encourage public interest in the development of medicine from antiquity to the present day, also helping people to understand the close linkage which exists between history and medicine. The museum is one of the three largest museums of its type in the world.
