Centuries of Scent

After four years and some €11 million worth of renovation, the International Perfume Museum in Grasse reopens this month, double its former size and resolutely modern in decor. The museum, located in the capital city of the French fragrance industry, documents the history and techniques of perfume production from antiquity to today’s surfeit of designer scents, and also offers sidelights on soaps,  cosmetics and makeup. The museum’s extraordinary collection of more than 5000 perfume bottles, flasks and other containers includes ancient Egyptian oil lamps, Moroccan perfume rings, Indian bronze fragrance figurines and Marie Antoinette’s nécessaire, a brass-trimmed wooden travel case, designed to hold a porcelain tea service, silverware and gold-capped glass vials and jars for her perfumes, balms, lotions and pomades.

2 blvd du Jeu de Ballon, Grasse, 04.97.05.58.00. website. Reopening October 18