The Osmothèque (from

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

''osmē'' "scent" patterned on French ''bibliothèque'' "library") is the world's largest

scent An odor (American English) or odour (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is caused by one or more volatilized chemical compounds that are generally found in low concentrations that humans and animals can perceive via their sense ...

archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...

, a leading international research institution tracing the history of

perfume Perfume (, ; french: parfum) is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agreeable scent. Th ...

ry, based in

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, ...

with conference centers in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

Luca Turin Luca Turin (born 20 November 1953) is a biophysicist and writer with a long-standing interest in bioelectronics, the sense of smell, perfumery, and the fragrance industry. Early life and education Turin was born in Beirut, Lebanon on 20 November ...

, and Tania Sanchez. ''The Little Book of Perfumes: The 100 Classics''. London: Profile, 2011. Print. Founded in 1990 by Jean Kerléo and other senior perfumers including

Jean-Claude Ellena Jean-Claude Ellena (born 1947, Grasse, France) is a French perfumer and writer. Career At an early age, Ellena picked jasmine with his grandmother in Grasse to sell to perfumers. Beginning with menial jobs, he became an apprentice at the fact ...

and Guy Robert, the Osmothèque is internationally responsible for the authentication, registration, preservation, documentation and reproduction of thousands of perfumes gathered from the past two millennia, archived at the Osmothèque repository and consultable by the public. Exclusive to the collection are countless rare masterpieces elsewhere discontinued or reformulated, including

François Coty François Coty (born Joseph Marie François Spoturno in Corsica ; 3 May 1874 – 25 July 1934) was a French perfumer, businessman, newspaper publisher, politician and patron of the arts. He was the founder of the Coty perfume company, today a ...

’s ''

Chypre Chypre ( or ) is the name of a family (or ''concept'') of perfumes that are characterised by an accord composed of citrus top notes, a middle centered on cistus labdanum, and a mossy-animalic set of basenotes derived from oakmoss. Chypre perfumes ...

'' ( Coty),

Paul Parquet Paul Parquet (1856–1916) was a French perfumer and joint owner of Houbigant. Called the "greatest perfumer of his time" by Ernest Beaux, he is widely regarded as the founder of modern perfumery for having pioneered the use of synthetics in works ...

’s ''

Fougère Royale ''Fougère'', , is one of the main olfactive families of perfumes. The name comes from the French language word for "fern". ''Fougère'' perfumes are made with a blend of fragrances: top-notes are sweet, with the scent of lavender flowers; ...

'' ( Houbigant) and Aimé Guerlain's ''

Jicky Jicky is a perfume originally created by Aimé Guerlain in 1889 for French perfume and cosmetics house Guerlain. Introduced in 1889, it is the oldest continuously-produced perfume in the world. History Jicky was one of the first perfumes crea ...

'' (

Guerlain Guerlain () is a French perfume, cosmetics and skincare house, which is among the oldest in the world. Many traditional Guerlain fragrances are characterized by a common olfactory accord known as the "Guerlinade" (fr). The house was founded in P ...

) as well as numerous personalized fragrances worn by historical figures such as

Elizabeth of Poland Elizabeth of Poland ( hu, Erzsébet, pl, Elżbieta; 1305 – 29 December 1380) was Queen of Hungary by marriage to Charles I of Hungary, and regent of Poland from 1370 to 1376 during the reign of her son Louis I. Life Early life She was a memb ...

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

and Eugénie de Montijo.[Stamelman, Richard Howard., and Michael Freeman. Perfume: Joy, Obsession, Scandal, Sin : A Cultural History of Fragrance from 1750 to the Present. New York, NY: Rizzoli, 2006. Print. Since 2008,

Patricia de Nicolaï Patricia de Nicolaï is a French perfumer who works as the head of her own perfume company Parfums de Nicolai. She is also a member of the technical committee of the French Society of Perfumers and the president of the Osmothèque scent archive. ...

has served as the institution's president.Turin, Luca, and Tania Sanchez. Perfumes: The Guide. London: Viking Press, 2008. Print.

History

The founding of the world's first international scent archive was initially proposed to the Société Française des Parfumeurs in 1976 by Jean Kerléo, then head perfumer at

Jean Patou Jean Patou (; 27 September 1887 – 8 March 1936) was a French fashion designer, and founder of the Jean Patou brand. Early life Patou was born in Paris, France in 1887. Patou's family's business was tanning and furs. Patou worked with his ...

, in an effort to formally record and preserve the history of perfumery.Osmothèque. Paris: Comité français du parfum, 1990. Print Kerléo envisioned reconstituting various discontinued classics according to their original formulae, working in collaboration with the world's foremost perfumers and perfume houses. An advisory committee was thus assembled, composed of experts Jean-François Blayn, Raymond Chaillan,

Yuri Gutsatz Yuri Gutsatz, (born July 6, 1914 in St. Petersburg, Russia, died April 7, 2005 in Paris, France), was a perfumer. He emigrated to Berlin in 1924 and then to Paris in 1933 where he worked for the Parfums de Mury. After the Second World War, he was ...

, Jeannine Mongin, Raymond Pouliquen, Guy Robert and Henri Sebag. After successfully reproducing the discontinued perfumes of Jean Patou, Jean Kerléo and his team were entrusted in 1986 with the formulae of the defunct F. Millot, among them the 1925 classic ''Crêpe de Chine'' by Jean Desprez.Le Guérer, Annick., and Louarn Michel. Le. Si Le Parfum M'était Conté--. Paris: Garde-Temps, 2009. Print. Kerléo's reconstitution, completed a year later with perfumer Aimable Duhayon, impressed many within the industry, a major catalyst for the launch of the proposed scent archive. When in 1988 the project won the support of both the Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie de Versailles and the Comité Français du Parfum, a repository facility was provided on the premises of the Institut Supérieur International du Parfum, de la Cosmétique et de l'Aromatique alimentaire. There the Osmothèque was officially founded on 26 April 1990 with an initial collection of 400 perfumes, both those reproduced by the Osmothèque and those supplied by external perfumers at houses such as Chanel,

and

Lanvin Lanvin () is a French Luxury goods, luxury fashion house based in Paris. Founded in 1889 by Jeanne Lanvin, it is the oldest French fashion house still in operation. Since 2018, it has been a subsidiary of Shanghai-based Lanvin Group. Bruno Sialel ...

The collections

The Osmothèque is the world's largest scent archive, storing over 3,000 perfumes from the past and present, all preserved at a constant temperature under argon gas. Perfumes accepted into the collection are either those reconstituted using archived formulae by the Osmothèque's internal perfumers (known as osmocurators) or those supplied by external perfume houses. As a

legal deposit Legal deposit is a legal requirement that a person or group submit copies of their publications to a repository, usually a library. The number of copies required varies from country to country. Typically, the national library is the primary reposi ...

archive, the Osmothèque receives a supply of all new perfumes produced in France and much of the world, in addition to those obtained through its program for content acquisitions.Colton, Sarah, "L’Osmothèque—Preserving The Past To Ensure The Future", Beauty Fashion
The role of chief archivist is currently filled by

, having assumed the presidency of the Osmothèque from Jean Kerléo in 2008.

Fragrance materials

The institution also maintains a substantial reference library of fragrance bases and aromatic sources, both natural and synthetic, historical and contemporary, as well as a vault inaccessible to the public containing historical perfume formulae, many unusable due to a lack of corresponding raw materials.

Perfume formulations

Rarities from the Osmothèque's collections include examples of ancient perfumery, such as the ''Parfum Royal'' of the

Parthia Parthia ( peo, 𐎱𐎼𐎰𐎺 ''Parθava''; xpr, 𐭐𐭓𐭕𐭅 ''Parθaw''; pal, 𐭯𐭫𐭮𐭥𐭡𐭥 ''Pahlaw'') is a historical region located in northeastern Greater Iran. It was conquered and subjugated by the empire of the Med ...

n kings as described by

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...

in the 1st century, medieval toilet waters such as the 14th century '' Eau de la reine de Hongrie'' of

and 18th century powders such as the ''Poudre de Chypre''. Equally unique is a major collection of 19th century perfumes from leading houses such as Farina,

, Houbigant,

Lubin Lubin (; german: Lüben, szl, Lubin) is a city in Lower Silesian Voivodeship in south-western Poland. It is the administrative seat of Lubin County, and also of the rural district called Gmina Lubin, although it is not part of the territory o ...

, F. Millot, L. T. Piver and Roger & Gallet. Also from the period is the

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 g ...

made for

in 1815 during his exile on Saint Helena. The largest portion of the Osmothèque's archives is devoted to modern perfumery (beginning in the late 19th century), presenting innumerable original masterpieces now discontinued or reformulated, including:

Other services

The Osmothèque maintains an active website, including an online database detailing the institution's collections. Various conferences for professionals, researchers, students and members of the public are regularly offered at the Osmothèque's headquarters in

, as well as at conference centers at the Galerie de Nicolaï in

and the Academy of Perfumery & Aromatics in

. In addition, the Osmothèque frequently organizes partner exhibitions and conferences with museums around the world, including the Carrousel du Louvre, the Palace of Versailles and the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

. The Osmothèque also publishes books on the subject of perfume, in addition to a bilingual periodical titled ''Les Nouvelles de l’Osmothèque'', available online and at the Osmothèque's bookshop.

References

External links

*
The Osmothèque – Official website
*
"L'Osmothèque de Versailles" – Film presentation (YouTube)
*

* ttp://folio.nzz.ch/2005/august/perfume-museum "The Perfume Museum" – Article by Luca Turin (Neue Zürcher Zeitung Folio) {{DEFAULTSORT:Osmotheque 1990 establishments in France Archives in France Buildings and structures in Versailles Libraries in France Perfumery Organizations based in Île-de-France