Paris’s Le Grand Musée du Parfum provides an innovative sensory immersion experience

By Sarah Parchinski

Housed in an 18th-century grand maison, the Le Grande Musée du Parfum.

PARIS – In a posh area of the 8th arrondissement of Paris (think Hermès and Lanvin), there is a pristine, 18th century white mansion with a courtyard and, guiding you to the front door, a blue carpet. Everything in this part of the city, including its boutiques and hotels, connotes luxury and grandeur, but for 9,50 euros, you can explore all four levels of Le Grand Musée du Parfum.

Museum staff in black suits greet you upon entering, providing a slip of paper with a QR code and no more of an explanation other than, “You will use is at the end of your visit.” Suspense!

The multi-sensory tour begins in an old stone wine cellar that makes up the first level of the museum. Here you can learn the history of perfume making and survey popular scents of various time periods dating all the way back to ancient Egypt.

Sample fragrances on display go back to the early1900s.

Moving up a floor, you enter an environment seemingly inspired by Dr. Seuss. Large, white “flowers” each dispense a scent when approached. The interactive technology makes this museum smart, and by implication underlines the science that goes into perfume and fragrance development.

For example, another area of the museum features softball-sized brass balls that, when picked up and brought near, release the scent of a raw material of perfume manufacture. The olfactory ball will also emit an aural explanation of that scent or material in any language you prefer, and it will explain what you just smelled, that scent’s history, and how it was made.

Another aspect of the museum’s interactivity is a quiz you can take with a friend toward the middle of the exhibit. Seated in an S-shaped chair equipped with two screens, you and partner can test each other’s noses by trying to correctly guess which scent the vent on the screen is blowing. Fair warning: There are quite a few scents you will not recognize. For instance, the Brazilian tonka bean smells suspiciously like vanilla. Only after comparing the two did the subtle differences become clear.

Scents from burning wood to basil await visitors in the museum’s otherworldly display spaces.

You might wonder how a visitor can sample so many different scents without becoming numb to them or losing the capacity to distinguish among them. The answer is simple: No alcohol. The museum was designed to enable visitors to continue to experience the scents and perfumes about which they are learning.

The last floor offers the opportunity to purchase some of the scents just enjoyed in the exhibits. Remember the QR code? At a station towards the back of the store, you can create your own unique scent. But be warned: It won’t be inexpensive.

In short, it is like no other museum you’ve likely been to, as you will be required to use your nose as much if not more than your eyes.