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Apr 2026
10m 6s

The world's first perfume archive

Bbc World Service
About this episode

On 26 April 1990, the world's first perfume archive opened in Versailles, France.

The idea behind L'Osmothèque was to create a collection of scents and preserve their memory.

Perfumer Jean Claude Ellena was one of the team who created it.

He speaks to Jen Dale about how L'Osmothèque was founded and how perfumes from previous centuries, that no longer existed, were re-created.

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(Image: Perfume bottles at L'Osmothèque, Versailles. Credit: L'Osmothèque)

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