The plague doctor, or the plague doctor. Pestarzt (Italian: physici epidemiie) is a well—established definition of a doctor in medieval and Renaissance Europe, whose main duty was to treat patients with bubonic plague, or the "black death", especially during epidemics. Since the 17th century, a distinctive feature of plague doctors has been a special protective suit with an original "nosy" mask resembling a bird's beak. Because of their specific appearance, as well as the mystical aura they give, plague doctors had a noticeable impact on European culture, expressed, in particular, in the appearance of the corresponding character in the Italian Commedia dell'arte and the famous Venetian mask resembling the mask of the doctor.

Some plague doctors wore a distinctive protective suit. In its final form, the plague doctor's costume appeared only in 1619, when the French physician Charles de Lorme proposed a complete set of protective clothing for doctors dealing with plague patients. Until that time, there was no single protective suit, and plague doctors wore a variety of clothes, which is confirmed by graphic sources.

The costume proposed by de Lorme was made with an eye to the leather armor of the light infantry. In addition to the characteristic "beaked" mask, he included a long raincoat from neck to ankles, tight trousers, gloves, boots and a hat. All the elements of the costume were made of waxed leather or, at the very least, from coarse canvas soaked in wax.

It was believed that a mask with a beak, giving the doctor the appearance of an ancient Egyptian deity, deters the disease. But the beak also had a functional load: it protected the doctor from the "pathogenic odor", that is, it was the prototype of modern respirators. The beak or its tip was filled with strong-smelling medicinal herbs that made breathing easier with the constant pestilential stench. And since the plague doctor constantly chewed garlic for prevention, the beak protected others from the garlic smell. In addition, the doctor placed incense on a special sponge in the nostrils and ears. To prevent him from suffocating from all this bouquet of smells, there were two small ventilation holes in the beak. Like gas masks of the twentieth century, the mask had glass inserts protecting the eyes. A long raincoat soaked in wax and leather or oiled clothing made of thick fabric were needed to avoid physical contact with the bodies of infected people and corpses.