Musée du Parfum Fragonard

Grasse, in the hills behind Cannes, has been the world capital of perfume for several centuries, and the Fragonard factory is one of the places where visitors can see how it works. The town's perfume trade began as an offshoot of leather tanning. In the sixteenth century glovemakers started to scent their goods, and the mild climate and rich soil of the area made it ideal for growing flowers such as jasmine, the May rose, tuberose and orange blossom. In 2018 the skills linked to perfume in the Grasse region were added to UNESCO's list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

The Fragonard company was founded in Grasse in 1926 and named after Jean-Honoré Fragonard, the eighteenth-century painter who was born in the town. Its Historical Factory, an old building in the lower town, is open to visitors without charge, and a free guided tour shows how essences are extracted and how perfumes are made, with a look at the old copper stills and the production areas. The perfume museum is on the third floor of the factory, and it is a small but well-chosen collection that traces the use of scent from antiquity to the present day.

The exhibits include about a hundred rare objects. Egyptian vessels and spoons used for make-up and ointments show how perfumes and cosmetics were used in the ancient world. In the Middle Ages, small containers called pomanders held scented substances that people carried to ward off bad smells and, it was believed, disease, and the museum has a large group of them, especially from the eighteenth century. Another curiosity is the bergamote, a decorative box made from the peel of the bergamot orange, a typical object of eighteenth-century fashion, used to hold sweets, snuff or perfume. There are also paintings of women at their toilette, pieces of antique Provençal furniture and displays of perfume bottles and flasks of different periods.

The visit is self-guided, with explanatory panels, and takes about thirty to forty minutes. It is a good complement to the factory tour, which explains the modern process, and the shop sells perfumes, soaps and other products made on the premises. The museum and tour are open every day, with hours that can vary with the season, so check before you go.

Grasse also has the Musée International de la Parfumerie, which covers the subject on a larger scale and has gardens of its own, and the Jardin des Parfums et des Plantes is another place to see the flowers. The old town, with Place aux Aires, Rue de la République and the Église Notre-Dame-du-Puy, is a short walk away, and the Parc de la Paix offers a green space. The museum suits perfume lovers, curious visitors and families.