Barcelona Perfume museum

The Barcelona Perfume Museum (in Catalan and originally Museu del Perfum) is probably one of the least-known museums that the city has to offer; its presence often goes so unnoticed that you may even have been outside the gates to the museum and have not seen it. This is because it’s inside the ‘Regia’ perfumery on the Passeig de Gràcia.

Information about the Barcelona Perfume Museum

Founded in 1961 by Ramón Planas, one of the best-known perfumers in Spain’s history, Barcelona’s Perfume Museum’s aim is to show the history and evolution of perfume bottles and containers, from their uses by ancient cultures to the current day, and it also delves into the history of perfumery.

The visit to the Barcelona Perfume Museum

To visit the museum you simply have to talk to any of the shop assistants in the ‘Regia’ perfumery, who will accompany you inside, as the museum is at the end of a corridor, just a short walk from the shop. One you enter the museum you’ll find a fairly small room, in which over 5000 pieces are exhibited, as well as catalogues, labels and advertising material from different eras.

You should navigate the museum in an anti-clockwise direction, as the collection is clearly separated into two sections – once which displays the perfumes of the most ancient cultures and the other which shows the most contemporary perfumes. Arranged in chronological order, the oldest bottles and receptacles date back to the Egyptians, Etruscans, Greeks and Romans, as well as other ancient cultures. They are made from materials as diverse as bronze, ceramics and ivory.

Approximately half way through the tour you’ll arrive at the part of the exhibition that focuses on the boom of the perfume industry during the second half of the 18th century. Ordered by trademarks and brands in the display cases, you can read the modern history of brands such as ‘Lágrimas en Flor’ (in english, Tears in Bloom).

Photo Gallery

Map

View larger Map