The Qatar America Institute for Culture (QAIC) has opened the doors to its newest cultural installation, the Perfumery Museum, during its first “Seasonal Social” open house for 2021. 

 

Located within QAIC’s DC headquarters, the Perfumery Museum expands on the organisation’s commitment to art and cultural programming by sharing the story of fragrance’s significant impact to society across time and the world. 

 

Offering a mix of both historical and contemporary accounts through a variety of informative displays and interactive elements, QAIC’s Perfumery Museum aims to be a truly unique experience found only in the nation’s capital.

 

From vintage perfume bottles to test strips to challenge your nose, the Perfumery Museum will change how one forever sees fragrance. 

 

Hidden inside an intimate chamber within the Qatar America Institute for Culture (QAIC), the Perfumery Museum is both an educational museum and interactive exhibit telling the story around the strong cultural ties between fragrance and society. 

 

By visiting this space, one will discover perfumery’s opulent origins as a symbol of luxury and how it has grown into a multibillion-dollar industry. Equipped with this new knowledge, test your senses at the scent strip station and learn about how some of the most notable fragrances of ancient times came to become the phenomenon they are today. 

 

The Perfumery Museum is open to visitors during QAIC’s normal business hours. Visits are arranged by appointment only. The Perfumery Museum will be closed on federal holidays and during special events as indicated on the QAIC event calendar.

 

Upon entering the space, visitors are briefly introduced to the history of fragrance followed by a curated display of vintage perfume bottles from fashion houses such as Guerlain and Lanvin. On loan by Qatar-based antiquities collector, Reem Abu Issa, these ornately designed bottles provide insight into the aesthetic complexity of perfumery branding dating back to the start of the 20th century. 

 

Going back further in time, visitors also learn about several traditional objects still used today for fragrance in the Middle East, whether at special occasions or around the home, like the oud-infused incense bukhoor that’s burned inside a diffuser called a mabkhara.

 

In the centre of the chamber sits a table adorned with numbered glass apothecary jars, each containing scented strips with mystery fragrances like myrrh or saffron for guests to identify using only their noses and the references around them for clues. One such reference is the large Fragrance Wheel presiding over the space, a device developed by renowned fragrance expert Michael Edwards for classifying the 14 various fragrance families used in perfumes as part of his work with Fragrances of the World.-- TradeArabia News Service