Saint Charles, an apothecary in the heart of Vienna’s fashionable Mariahilf district, has been making and selling herbal remedies under the epithet “right to the roots” since the rule of the Habsburgs. Established in 1886 by pharmacist Alfred Blumenthal, it was taken over by sixth-generation Austrian pharmacist Alexander Ehrmann and his business partner Richard König in 2006. Together they have sought to mix modern science with the ancient wisdom of traditional European medicine (TEM), which advises combining botanical remedies with holistic practices. In Saint Charles’s case, this means creating cosmetics, potions and tinctures made from lavender and linseed oil pressed in Lower Austria’s Weinviertel region, or hemp from Waldviertel in the north-west.
