4711 is a traditional German
Eau de Cologne
Eau de Cologne (; German: ''Kölnisch Wasser'' ; meaning "Water from Cologne"), or simply cologne, is a perfume originating from Cologne, Germany. Originally mixed by Johann Maria Farina (Giovanni Maria Farina) in 1709, it has since come to be a ge ...
by
Mäurer & Wirtz
Mäurer & Wirtz is a German manufacturer of personal care products and perfumes. Since 1990 the company has been a subsidiary of Dalli Group.
The company is managed by the fifth generation of the Wirtz family, joint CEO Hermann Wirtz.
The headq ...
. Because it has been produced in
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
since at least 1799, it is allowed to use the
geographical indication
A geographical indication (GI) is a name or sign used on products which corresponds to a specific geographical location or origin (e.g., a town, region, or country). The use of a geographical indication, as an indication of the product's source, ...
''Original Eau de Cologne''. The brand has been expanded to various other perfumes and products besides the original ''Echt Kölnisch Wasser'', which has used the same formula for more than 200 years.
The original 4711 store at Glockengasse 4 in Cologne is a popular
tourist
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mo ...
attraction.
History
![Eau de Cologne 1280470](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Eau_de_Cologne_1280470.JPG)
In the early 18th century,
Johann Maria Farina
Johann Maria Farina 1685–1766
Giovanni Maria Farina (born 8 December 1685, Santa Maria Maggiore; Germanized name: Johann Maria Farina, Francized: Jean Marie Farina – 25 November 1766, Cologne) was an Italian-born perfumier in German ...
(1685–1766), an Italian living in
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, created a fragrance. He named it ''Eau de Cologne'' ("water from Cologne") after his new home. Over the next century, the fragrance became increasingly popular.
According to legend, on 8 October 1792, a
Carthusian monk made a wedding gift for the merchant Wilhelm Mülhens (1762–1841): the secret recipe of a so-called "aqua mirabilis", a "miracle water" for internal and external use. Mülhens then founded a small factory at Cologne's "Glockengasse" and established the first "Eau de Cologne" as a
remedy.
Peter Joseph Mülhens and his son
Wilhelm Mülhens Wilhelm Mülhens (born 25 June 1762 in Troisdorf and died 6 March 1841 in Köln) was a Cologne perfume designer and manufacturer, and the founder of the Mülhens company, famous for the fragrance "4711".
Life and work
Wilhelm Mühlens was the si ...
had been in a dispute over the use of the name "Farina" from 1800 to 1881. The Farina family accused Mülhens of using the name without authorization. The firm "Johann Maria Farina gegenüber dem Jülichs-Platz" feared confusion between the products because they also produced perfumes. In 1832, Wilhelm Mülhens lost the dispute, whereupon he employed another Mr. Farina from Mortara in order to continue using the name.
The company name was ''Eau de Cologne & Parfümerie Fabrik Glockengasse No. 4711 gegenüber der Pferdepost von Ferd. Mülhens in Köln am Rhein'' until 1990, when it was renamed ''Mülhens GmbH & Co. KG''.
In 1994, the Mülhens family company was bought by ''Wella AG'',
Darmstadt
Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...
, Germany. Since 1997, Wella has operated its cosmetic activities under the name Cosmopolitan Cosmetics GmbH, although the name Mülhens GmbH & Co. KG was still in use. In 2003, Wella AG was taken over by the American competitor
Procter & Gamble
The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer hea ...
.
In summer 2006, Procter & Gamble announced it would sell the 4711 brand and three other former Mühlens brands, as part of an effort to divest "local" brands and to focus on global brands. The offer attracted several interested parties; in December 2006, P&G announced that the brand had been sold to the perfume company
Mäurer & Wirtz
Mäurer & Wirtz is a German manufacturer of personal care products and perfumes. Since 1990 the company has been a subsidiary of Dalli Group.
The company is managed by the fifth generation of the Wirtz family, joint CEO Hermann Wirtz.
The headq ...
in
Aachen
Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...
, a subsidiary of the Dalli Group.
House number 4711
![Adressbuch1797-Nr4711-detail](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Adressbuch1797-Nr4711-detail.jpg)
On 3 October 1794, in view of the
French troops standing just outside Cologne, the city council approved a plan proposed by the guard-committee to number all houses in the city without exception and to install what would be considered appropriate lighting for each location. Orders were given to install the lighting immediately, while the numbering was left to fate.
On 6 October 1794, French troops occupied the city. On 7 October 1794, the city council decided that every local government official had to hand in an inventory of all citizens and non-citizens in his district within 48 hours. Furthermore, the guard-committee received authorisation to number the houses as previously agreed.
On 20 October 1794, Senator Gottfried von Gall noted in his diary that the numbering and the written documentation of the houses which started eight days earlier was being continued.
The printer Heinrich Josef Metternich (a council member) applied for permission to publish an address calendar. This calendar was supposed to include, amongst other things, the house numbers which had recently been assigned. He also sought permission to collect all the relevant details.
In the second address book of Cologne (1797), the widow of Wilhelm von Lemmen was still listed as the tenant of the Klöckergasse house, which had been given the number 4711.
Wilhelm Mülhens was listed as the tenant of the house no sooner than in the third edition of the address book of Cologne; his occupation was listed as "''in Speculationsgeschäften''" (which translates to
speculator). He is not yet listed under the manufacturers of Eau de Cologne in the mercantile directory.
In 1811, the continuous
house numbering
House numbering is the system of giving a unique number to each building in a street or area, with the intention of making it easier to locate a particular building. The house number is often part of a postal address. The term describes the numb ...
was changed to a system of numbering streets separately, as is common today.
In the preface to the 1813 French edition of the address book, the publisher Thiriart claimed that there had not been any house numbering before the arrival of the French in the city ("''inconnu à Cologne avant l´arrivée des armées françaises au bord du Rhin''") and that the order to number the houses had been given in 1795.
In 1854, Peter Joseph Mülhens moved from Glockengasse 12 into a newly constructed commercial building with a neo-gothic facade at Glockengasse 26-28. Glockengasse 12, which had been assigned the number 4711 in 1794, remained vacant for a period of time and was torn down after it was sold.
The depiction of a French military officer painting the house number 4711 on the facade of the house in the Glockengasse while sitting on his horse is a product of advertising. A piece of tapestry, a
gobelin
Gobelin was the name of a family of dyers, who in all probability came originally from Reims, France, and who in the middle of the 15th century established themselves in the Faubourg Saint Marcel, Paris, on the banks of the Bièvre.
The firs ...
which had been ordered and made in the 1920s, served as a model. A scenic version spread widely in the 1950s and the 1960s.
[RWWA Abt.33, 160 Jahre N° 4711 1752-1952, Cologne 1952, o. S.]
Notes
References
* Stiftung Rheinisch-Westfälisches Wirtschaftsarchiv (RWWA), Cologne: Genuine files 1803 u. Mülhens letters May 9, 1802 / June 22, 1819 / June 27, 1819 / October 31, 1824 / January 20, 1826 / February 3, 1826 / January 11, 1827
* Abt.33, Stiftung Rheinisch-Westfälisches Wirtschaftsarchiv (RWWA), Cologne
* Ulrich S. Soénius: ''Mülhens, Fabrikanten von Kölnisch Wasser. Familienartikel mit Einzelbiographien Wilhelm, Peter Joseph, Ferdinand und Peter Paul Mülhens.'' In: Neue Deutsche Biographie, Bd. 18, Berlin 1997, S. 299–303.
External links
Official 4711 website
{{DEFAULTSORT:4711 (Brand)
Perfumes
Cologne
German brands