Bär-Apotheke, Dessau
Contributed by Florian Hardwig on Oct 3rd, 2026.
Bär-Apotheke is a pharmacy in Dessau, Saxony-Anhalt. It has been around at least since 1908, then at Wilhelmstraße (which has been renamed Kurt-Weill-Straße). The current location at Körnerstraße is about 100m further north.
Its illuminated sign probably dates from GDR times: the letterforms are modeled after Splendor. This script typeface was first cast by Schriftguss in 1937, after drawings by Wilhelm Berg. Two bolder weights followed. After World War II, Splendor was continued by Typoart. East Germany’s state-owned type provider was founded in 1948 through a merger of several nationalised type foundries, including the Dresden-based Schriftguss.
