The plaster statue of Asklepios comes from the “Pod Złotą Głową” [“The Golden Head”] pharmacy, which is the longest-running pharmacy in Kraków, having operated in the tenement house at 13B Rynek Główny Street [Main Market Square] continuously from the middle of the 15 th century until 1998. The pharmacy was founded by a pharmacist, Jakub Bohem, and run by well-known Kraków's pharmacy families of Guldenstern, Pipan, Chudziński, Szaster and Aleksandrowicz.
In 1996, the plaster statue of Asklepios was donated to the Museum of Pharmacy in Kraków by Leszek Krówczyński, the owner of "The Golden Head" pharmacy, professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy at the Jagiellonian University Collegium Medicum, vice-rector of the Medical College in Kraków and long-standing Head of the Department of Applied Pharmacy (later the Department of Pharmaceutical Technology and Biopharmaceutics of the Jagiellonian University), lecturer at the Pharmaceutical Research Institute in Warsaw. He was a member of numerous scientific societies, including the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), scientific councils, and, among others, the Pharmacopoeia Commission, awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta and the Ignacy Łukasiewicz Medal of Merit.

In the modern era, the figure of Asclepius, worshiped as the god of medicine in ancient Greece and later also in Rome, has become a frequent motif of objects associated with medicine and pharmacy. Moreover, his images were placed on pharmacy emblems and their interiors were decorated with statues or plaques depicting the Greek god. The attribute of Asklepios – a staff entwined by a snake – has become a symbol of medicine, as well as associated people and institutions around the world. However, it should not be confused with a different symbol – the caduceus (Gr. kerykeion , κηρύκειον ), which is a staff entwined by two winged serpents, a symbol of commerce and an attribute of Hermes (Mercury), the god of merchants and thieves.
The cult of Asclepius as the god of medicine was popularized during the 6th century BC and most likely originated in Epidaurus (as confirmed by archaeological evidence) or Thessaly. According to Homer and Hesiod, the latter was the god's birthplace. In the 4 th century BC, the cult of Asklepios developed on the island of Kos (the birthplace of Hippocrates, recognized as the father of medicine), where the famous healing and temple precinct ( Asclepeion), as well as the school of medicine were created. Apart from Kos and Epidaurus, the most famous places of cult included Rhodes, Crete, Pergamon, Ephesus and Sicily. In Egypt, the Greeks identified Asklepios with the god Imhotep, a deified architect and physician, vizier of the pharaoh Djoser, as well as the creator of the tomb and temple complex in Sakkara. During the reign of the Ptolemies, his cult was combined with ceremonies dedicated to Serapis. In Rome, Asclepius was worshiped under the name Aesculapius, and this Latinised form is more likely to appear in the medical context: Aesculapius' serpent, staff (or rod) of Aesculapius, Aesculapius' sons and daughters (as a term for medics, etc.). The first Roman temple dedicated to Asclepius was erected in 291 BC on Tiber Island. According to a legend, during a plague in Rome, a god in the form of a serpent was to arrive on the island on a ship from Greece.
Asclepius, or Aesculapius, was revered in the form of a serpent, which was a symbol of a reborn life force. Additionally, he was depicted as a serious man with a beard, wearing a long coat (Gr. chiton , χιτών) and holding a staff (that Greek physicians often traveled with) entwined by a serpent. In the healing and temple precinct dedicated to Asclepius, the sick were treated and subjected to purifying rites and fasts. A suitable therapy was selected based on the interpretation of their dreams. In the temples of Asclepius, it was possible to encounter sacred snakes and dogs, which were allowed to approach the sick. Asclepius is sometimes depicted with a dog, which was to watch over him during infancy. According to the myth, Asclepius was the son of Apollo and the nymph Coronis, whom Apollo punished with death for betrayal, yet saved their unborn child by performing the first caesarean section in history. Asclepius learned medicine from the centaur Chiron and became so adept that he could raise the dead. As a result, wrathful Zeus killed him with a bolt of lightning. However, having understood the importance of the god-doctor to people, he posthumously placed Asclepius among the stars as a constellation of Ophiuchus.
Asclepius had a wife named Epione ( soothing pain , Gr. épios, ἤπιος – soothing, healing), two sons, physicians Machaon and Podalirius, and four daughters, Hygieia (goddess of health, Gr. hygieia , ὑγίεια – health), Panacea ( all-healing, Greek panakeia πανάκεια – a universal remedy), Iaso ( Greek iaomai , ἰάομαι – to treat) and Aceso ( Greek akeomai , ἀκέομai – to heal).