# **Apotheek De Castro - De Castro Pharmacy **In 2019, Apotheek De Castro disappeared from Muiderstraat 14 in Amsterdam. This pharmacy was an icon of Jewish pharmacists and Jewish Amsterdam and one of the oldest in the city. The pharmacy changed owners, was deemed too small and inaccessible for disabled people, and moved to Roetersstraat 19.In 1832, Daniël Henriques de Castro (Amsterdam, January 11, 1806 – Amsterdam, October 14, 1863) opened his pharmacy at Muiderstraat 14, just as cholera was ravaging the city. Daniël was so committed to combating this disease that he received the silver medal from the Cholera Commission of Amsterdam. Although this pharmacy still bears his name, it has been in other hands since 1896, when Emanuel Vita Israël, a friend of the De Castros, took over the family business.Daniël Henriques de Castro was David de Castro's uncle. David became known for his dedication to preserving nineteenth-century heritage and glass engraving. He was an avid collector, and in 1999, the Jewish Historical Museum dedicated an exhibition to his collection. De Castro was very interested in Sephardic history and spent years researching the Sephardic cemetery in Ouderkerk. His research led to the discovery of a number of tombstones of famous Sephardim, including that of Menasseh ben Israël. He found around 6,000 gravestones that had sunk into the marshy old part of this cemetery.Photo: 15 February 2026Text copied from: [https://www.joodsamsterdam.nl/apotheek-de-castro/](https://www.joodsamsterdam.nl/apotheek-de-castro/)