The Osmothèque (from

Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...

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

scent An odor (American English) or odour (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is a smell or a scent caused by one or more volatilized ...

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 organ ...

, a leading international research institution tracing the history of

perfume Perfume (, ) is a mixture of fragrance, fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), Fixative (perfumery), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agre ...

ry, based in

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

with conference centers in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

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 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 ; 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, Coty perfume company, today a multin ...

’s ''

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

'' ( Coty), Paul Parquet’s '' Fougère Royale'' ( Houbigant) and Aimé Guerlain's '' Jicky'' ( Guerlain) as well as numerous personalized fragrances worn by historical figures such as Elizabeth of Poland,

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

and

Eugénie de Montijo Eugénie de Montijo (; born María Eugenia Ignacia Agustina de Palafox y Kirkpatrick; 5 May 1826 – 11 July 1920) was Second French Empire, Empress of the French from her marriage to Napoleon III on 30 January 1853 until he was overthrown on 4 ...

.[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. From 2008 to 2020, Patricia de Nicolaï served as the institution's president.Turin, Luca, and Tania Sanchez. Perfumes: The Guide. London: Viking Press, 2008. Print. Since July 2020, independent perfumer Thomas Fontaine had been serving as its President, along with Christopher Sheldrake as the Vice President.

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, 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, Jean-Claude Ellena, Yuri Gutsatz, 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 Le Louarn, Michel. ''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 , 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 Chanel ( , ) is a French luxury fashion house founded in 1910 by Coco Chanel in Paris. It is privately owned by French brothers, Alain and Gérard Wertheimer, through the holding company Chanel Limited, established in 2018 and headquarte ...

, Guerlain and Lanvin.

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 reposit ...

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 was filled by Patricia de Nicolaï, having assumed the presidency of the Osmothèque from Jean Kerléo in 2008. This role had since been passed to the current President, Thomas Fontaine, with Vice President Christopher Sheldrake assisting, since July 2020.

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 ( ''Parθava''; ''Parθaw''; ''Pahlaw'') is a historical region located in northeastern Greater Iran. It was conquered and subjugated by the empire of the Medes during the 7th century BC, was incorporated into the subsequent Achaemeni ...

n kings as described by

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

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

Lubin 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 of the latter, as the town for ...

, 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 in Cologne, Germany. Originally mixed by Johann Maria Farina (Giovanni Maria Farina) in 1709, it has since come to be a gene ...

made for

in 1815 during his exile on

Saint Helena Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...

. 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 The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

and the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

. 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 Libraries established in 1990