Audioguide

Kleopatra
Kleopatra

Cleopatra

1st century BC, Ancient Egyptian civilisation

Perfumery is believed to have its origins in Ancient Egypt. The name of perfume (agly “perfume”) is derived from the Latin “per fumus” “through smoke”. In fact, the world’s oldest perfumes were made as early as 4 000 years ago in the form of resins, spices, dried herbs, wine honey, etc. These incense sticks were used to incense hair and clothes, which absorbed the smell of smoke for a long time.
In ancient Egyptian culture, scents were an extremely important part of Egyptian life and culture, and perfume was an expression of a person’s social status. Only the queen could smell strong fragrances, while sweet scents were reserved for the gods.
If Ancient Egyptian perfumery had an image, it would undoubtedly depict Cleopatra, who was extremely fond of perfume and adored roses.

Legend has it that Cleopatra’s perfume reached the shore before people saw her ship in a light breeze, because the scent of Damascus roses wafted from the ship and perfumed the sails.
Many of the fragrances used in Ancient Egypt are still used in perfumery today: jasmine, myrrh, frankincense, lilies, rose scents The main ingredients of the oil perfumes created at that time were olive oil, myrrh, cinnamon and cardamom.

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Avicena
Avicena

Avicena

11th century, Arabia/Persia

While Europe was going through the Dark Ages, the Arab world was enjoying a golden age of philosophy, literature, science and medicine.
Avicenna (Ibn Sina) was a Persian-born Arabic philosopher, physician and father of early medicine, who wrote the Canons of Medicine, which were used in medicine until the 17th century.

The Arabs are believed to have extracted essential oils by distillation as early as the 8th and 9th centuries, and the Persian sage and alchemist Avicenna perfected and described the process of steam distillation in the 11th century.
Rose water was the most widely used by Avicenna for health purposes. Scents were then an integral part of the well-being of the body and spirit in Arab culture. The Islamic religion states that the Prophet favours prayer, wives and scents. Rose water is still popular for cleaning temples, personal hygiene and cooking. Due to the extreme abundance of aromatic plants in Arab countries, distillation was not limited to roses.

In the 15th century, the technology of plant distillation arrived in Europe, with distillation stills appearing in every manor house and pharmacy, distilling plant waters for perfumes and medicines, for scenting the environment and clothes.
Distillation is still used today as the basis for modern aromatherapy.

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Queen of Hungary water

Middle Ages, Hungary

In 1380, a monk is said to have presented Queen Elizabeth of Hungary with a fragrant liquid. The seventy-year-old ruler complained constantly of ill health, but as soon as she tasted the decoction of this liquid (at that time, perfume was not only used for scent but also as an internal medicine), she immediately regained her strength. The Queen looked so animated that the King of Poland immediately asked for her hand.

History does not mention such a queen, so this story is more legend than reality. But the Queen of Hungary’s water did exist, and has the distinction of being the first perfume in Europe to be made with alcohol. Queen of Hungary’s water is believed to have been developed for its disinfectant properties, which helped fight the bubonic plague that killed many Europeans between 1346 and 1350.

Rosemary is the main ingredient in the Queen of Hungary’s water, along with thyme, wine, and later lavender, sage, marjoram, neroli and lemon.
The perfume contains rosemary, bergamot, lavender, frankincense and cocaine.

Source:

  • Fabjena Pavia „Kvepalų pasaulis“, 1998
Barbora Radvilaitė
Barbora Radvilaitė

Barbora Radvilaitė

Renaissance, Lithuania

Barbora Radvilaitė spent her childhood in the magnificent Radvila manor in Vilnius, on the banks of the Neris River. Barbara’s home was surrounded by an apple orchard, cherry tree avenues, and ponds in the flower gardens. Barbara’s father, Jurgis Radvila, was a marshal at the Palace of the Sovereigns, which at the time was resplendent with the splendour and beauty of the Renaissance, and was in keeping with other European mansions.
The tables of the lords were served with delicacies such as raw and fried fruits, as well as raisins, almonds and figs from the south. Spices such as pepper, ginger, saffron, cloves and cinnamon were used in noble kitchens. At the behest of her beloved Sigismund Augustus, Barbara Radvilaitė was presented daily with very expensive oranges (which she loved very much) and pears. In a word, whatever Barbora wanted, she got.

In addition, Barbara’s uncle, Mikalojus Radvila (the governor of Vilnius), founded what was probably the first “free pharmacy” in Vilnius, which also sold perfumes. Thus, Barbara Radvilaitė could not only dress up, but also smell like the European fashion of the time.
She was not a typical Renaissance woman, as she was particularly fond of cleanliness rituals, whereas in Europe at that time noblemen washed no more than a few times a year. Barbara used to take long and frequent baths in a tub of heated water. This habit was also adopted by Sigismund Augustus. He fell in love with Barbara, his mother remarked, and “fell in love with perfume and the bath”. In fact, the historian M. Matušakaitė notes in her study that even Sigismund Augustus himself was amazed by his beloved’s long baths.

During the Renaissance, perfume was often worn in pomanders – round, open jewellery with holes through which the scent could escape.
Left: A fraction of a painting of a Renaissance pomander published by Osmoteque (The World’s Largest Fragrance Archive, Versailles).
Right: painting of Barbara with a pomander hanging from her belt. The painting was painted between 1547 and 1548, shortly after the secret wedding of Sigismund Augustus and Barbara Radvilaitė. It is believed that Barbara was pregnant at the time.
Gloves were adored by the nobility during this period, but they were made of poorly worked leather, which gave off an unpleasant smell, and they stank, so they were splashed with strong perfume.

Unfortunately, there is no surviving information about the perfume that Barbara Radvilaitė wore in her heyday, but I have found a recipe for a perfume that was made by a doctor when she was seriously ill and tried to radiate charm even when she was lying in bed.
Before his death, the King had promised to bring his wife’s remains back to Vilnius. He did so. The journey took almost a month. The King himself rode on horseback behind the coffin, and when passing through towns, he dismounted and walked once. On 23 June, Barbara Radvilaitė was buried in the cellars of Vilnius Cathedral.

Ingredients: clove, nutmeg, cardamom, ambergris, resin, musk, rose and lavender water.

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Mumtaz Mahal
Mumtaz Mahal

Mumtaz Mahal

12th century, Mughal Empire (India)

In the 17th century, the legendary love story of Emperor Jahanshah and his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, inspired a number of works of art. Guerlain’s famous Shalimar perfume is dedicated to this story, but this time it’s not about them.
Before he became emperor, Prince Khurram, in his twenties, met a young girl called Arjumand Banu in a market. Captivated by her beauty, he married this unassuming girl and gave her the name of Mumtaz Mahal, which meant “jewel of the palace”. After the wedding, the Emperor and Mumtaz were inseparable. She gave Jahanshah 13 children and died giving birth to the 14th child. She was 39 years old. Her death weighed heavily on Jahanshah and the Emperor built the Taj Mahal in memory of his wife and their undying love.

The exact recipes for Mumtaz Mahal’s perfume could not be found, so the perfume was born from an analysis of the history of the time and the special Indian perfumes – atars – that are still used in perfumery today. When the technology of attar production was discovered in the early 1600s, ‘attar’ perfume was associated almost exclusively with rose attar, which was exported to Europe. But few knew that, in addition to the world-famous rose attar, India had an incredible variety of aromatic raw materials that were distilled, extracted, macerated or extracted by enfleurage. Perfumers here therefore had access to a wealth of scents and essences.
Mumtaz Mahal lived in a fragrant age, during the Mughal Empire, when the land was prosperous. The Mughal emperors and princes adored scents and perfumes and encouraged and invested in the production and export of atars. In 1526, the large-scale export of rose attars to Europe and other countries began, and the 16th and 19th centuries are considered to be the golden age of attar production.

Perfume:
Main notes: cardamom, cedar, rose, jasmine, vetiver, scorched earth attar
Atar making process: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1779779619077701

 

Liudvikas XIV
Liudvikas XIV

Louis XIV

Baroque, France

Since the Renaissance, water has been thought to carry plague and other diseases. So people hardly showered. In the 17th century, perfume became very popular, a phenomenon that could be described as “perfume madness”. Unfortunately, this is not related to hygiene, but rather the opposite: perfume was supposed to overpower the smell of the environment. Powders and scented waters permeate the faces and wigs of the courtiers of the King of the Sun. In the 17th century, the myriad substances used in perfume are enriched by the scents of jasmine, rose and tuberose.
Some sources say that King Saul did not like to bathe, but others say that he only disliked baths prescribed by doctors, which were cold and smelled of medicinal herbs. It is said that he had a Turkish bath under the Palace of Versailles, where he spent time with his mother and later with his mistresses from his childhood.

Even if the king didn’t wash every day, he changed his underwear three times a day. The linen, like everything else in the palace, was richly perfumed. Only the corridors stank of excrement, because the 10 000 inhabitants of Versailles at that time had very few toilets.
Every morning, the King would ask for his linen to be perfumed with “Aqua Angeli” (angel water), which contains musk, tarweed, cloves, benzoin, aloe vera and rose water. The King’s evening perfume was further enhanced with jasmine and neroli water with a pinch of musk. The linen was soaked in this liquid and dried.
Eventually, Louis XIV developed an allergy to the strong scents, and at the end of his life he could only enjoy the delicate scent of the neroli water, which he used to perfume his clothes and his rooms.

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Marija Antuanetė
Marija Antuanetė

Marie Antoinette

Age of Enlightenment, France

The Age of Philosophy and Revolution is also the heyday of perfume. Louis XV’s court was known as the “Perfumed Court” because the scents emanated not only from the faces of the courtiers, but also from their clothes, their fans and even their furniture.
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette reigned in this fragrant age, a symbol of luxury and extravagance. The Queen’s wardrobe not only included the most sumptuous clothes, but also an abundance of perfumes. Many perfumers of the time competed for the Queen’s attention by sending her perfumes they had created without payment, and she would choose the perfume she liked best and spend huge sums on it. Marie Antoinette’s perfumes are dominated by flowers, a significant transformation from Louis XIV’s perfume.

Sensing the mood of revolution, the royal family decided to flee Paris in 1791. Marie Antoinette had prepared for this trip with great care, sending a huge consignment of perfumes and cosmetics before she left. These were officially designated as a gift for Madame Campan’s sister in Brussels, but in reality, the Queen could not part with her beloved cosmetics and was determined to provide herself with them for the rest of her life. Her favourite perfumers, Fargeon and Haubigant, received orders of such a size that they did not have enough raw materials to fill them quickly.

In the 18th century, fragrances were stored in a variety of containers. A sponge moistened with scented toilet water is placed in gilded metal containers. Liquid perfumes are poured into graceful Louis XIV-style flasks. The Bakara glass manufactory, founded in France in 1765, produced only perfume bottles. Their crystalware soon became famous and their fame has not faded to this day. The 18th century is the era of the nesessera, the small boxes that hold fragrant oils. In addition to a small funnel to fill the bottles, pencils, toothbrushes and even ‘tongue scrapers’ were also placed in the nesessera.
Jean-Louis Fargeon, one of Marie Antoinette’s perfumers, created Parfum du Trianon to remind the Queen of the scent of her beloved palace. In the course of creating this perfume, he also described the ingredients and their role in the perfume:

Orange blossom (neroli) – white, firm blossoms filled with fragrance and freshness, like a marshmallow or a child’s kiss.
Lavender is used to soften the aroma of neroli.
She added her own squeezed lemon and bergamot oil, which must have been familiar to the Queen and therefore evoked cosy memories.
Finally, a drop of galbanum, which brought out the green note of the perfume and combined the top and heart notes. This is the scent that the perfumer smells every time he breaks a blade of grass, and for the Queen it would mean breaking etiquette and freeing her soul and rising above the rules of the world.
Soon thereafter, the iris, which in Greek mythology is associated with Zeus, appears. The Iris undertone enriches the perfume with ‘magic dust’ which will envelop the Queen like a halo. The scent of Iris radiated warmth and gave the perfume a pleasant aroma. The perfumer knew that the iris would also enhance the scent of the scented orphans that the Queen loved so much.

The orphan scent is fresh and spontaneous, like the Queen herself in her youth. When she became Queen, she had to learn to hide her true nature and use all her wiles, so it was lovely to remember the past. And the scent of orphans is said to bring back memories of past loves.
On the heart note, the perfumer ingeniously added tuberose to symbolise triumph, power and stimulate eroticism.
Ambergris and musk combine to give sensuality and animalistic fervor, while benzoin adds warmth and longevity.
This lingering fragrance must have been like the seal of a secret love.
Notes: galbanum, neroli, bergamot, iris, rose, turmerose, lavender, benzoin, pansy, ambergris, labdanum.

Source:

  • Elisabeth de Feydeau, „A scented palace. The secret history of Marie Antuanette‘s perfumer“, 2018
Napoleonas Bonapartas
Napoleonas Bonapartas

Napoleon Bonaparte

Age of Enlightenment, France

The French Revolution was a major shock for perfumers, who lost a large part of their clients to repression or exile. However, cologne entered the perfumery scene. Napoleon Bonaparte was perhaps the most famous fan of cologne, consuming 50 bottles a month, not only to perfume himself but also to sprinkle it on sugar lumps.
Napoleon Bonaparte adored the freshness of cologne, splashing it on his shoulders and neck. He particularly liked the scent of rosemary, one of the main ingredients, which reminded him of his native Corsica. Every day, a servant would scrub the Emperor from head to toe with cologne made by Jean-Marie Farinas. The perfumer even created a scroll-shaped bottle which the Emperor would slip into his shoes.

Jean-Marie Farina said: “I have discovered a scent that reminds me of a spring morning in Italy, of mountain daffodils and orange blossom after the rain”. The perfumer made the perfume according to a magical recipe that I discovered and took great care with the quality of the essential oils. Farina knew that only the highest quality oils would create the perfect scent, so she meticulously tested each batch of oil and gave instructions to the essential oil suppliers on the care, harvesting and distillation of plants.
Napoleon also admired his wife’s “eau naturel” (“natural water”, meaning natural scent). On his return from battle, he would send his wife a message: ‘Don’t shower, I’ll be back to you in eight days’. But he did not forget to buy her some jasmine perfume, which she loved.

Josephine had a taste for strong scents and was known as a musk nut. Her room in Malmaison was so permeated with all sorts of scents – musk, civet, vanilla, ambergris – that even seventy years later you could still smell them. On more than one occasion, the Emperor has escaped from Josephine’s boudoir because he thought he was out of breath.
After Napoleon’s reign, the era of natural perfumery came to an end, the first synthetic fragrance molecules were created, perfume production changed dramatically, and many new scents were created and are still in use today.
Perfume: cologne.
Fragrance used: rosemary, lemon, bergamot, neroli, cedar, lime, petitgrain.

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