Heraeus Corporate History
From 1660 to today - on the way to 400 years of corporate history
Since 1660: Six generations shape the Heraeus dynasty of pharmacists in Hanau

The origins of the Heraeus family business date back to the 17th century. In October 1660, Isaac Heraeus (1636-1676, son of Dr. Johannes Heraeus, M.D.) took over the then Faucque Pharmacy in Hanau-Neustadt. In 1668 he opened his own pharmacy on the market square in Hanau-Neustadt under the name "Zum weißen Einhorn." The legendary Einhorn Pharmacy thus found its final place in Hanau, and Heraeus is now considered one of the oldest dynasties of pharmacists and entrepreneurs in Germany. The building itself no longer exists, as it fell victim to the Allied air raids on Hanau in World War II. However, a commemorative plaque of the city of Hanau today marks this milestone in German industrial history.

Franz Heraeus (1661-1707), the eldest son of Isaac Heraeus, ran his father's pharmacy from 1683 to 1707 and had the company’s first contact with precious metals. An old document shows that Franz Heraeus was already involved with gold in 1694, when he supplied fine gold for the gilding of letters, knobs, and cockerels to the French church in Hanau. The Einhorn Pharmacy was run exclusively as a count's court pharmacy for six generations until the middle of the 19th century.

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