For all of this, we have researchers like Felix Hoffmann, Robert Koch, Emil von Behring, Paul Ehrlich and Gerhard Domagk to thank. They established Germany’s reputation as the “world’s pharmacy” and made health one of its most important exports.

But it’s not just German medicines which save people around the clock and around the globe. X-ray machines, heart catheters and dialysis were all developed here, and Germany today remains one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical and medical technology nations.

Right now, together with scientists from all corners of the globe, German pharmaceutical researchers are working on 300 new drugs, among which are the first cancer vaccine, new drugs for the treatment of strokes and modern therapies to tackle Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes.

And for the little mishaps in life, another German idea comes to the rescue - the plaster.

"Milestones of Medicine" is the second out of a total of six huge sculptures to make up the "Walk of Ideas" - a walk down the road of German inventiveness. Each of the sculptures symbolises the richness of ideas and the spirit of invention which characterise Germany’s composers, writers, scientists, engineers and perfectionists.

More German ideas are concealed within the sculptures themselves: they are all made of Neopor®, an innovative plastic material by BASF, and coated with a new metallic paint developed by BASF Coatings.

Find more about the "Walk of Ideas"