The sense of smell in museums: how aromas transform the cultural experience
Imagine entering a room dedicated to ancient Rome and, before even seeing the artifacts, smelling burnt wood, oriental spices, and tanned leather. Or visiting an exhibition about the sea and suddenly feeling the salty air, tar, and damp wood of a ship. This isn't science fiction: it's what olfactory design for museums does, a discipline that is changing how the public relates to art, history, and culture.
At Hermozia, based in Almuñécar (Costa Tropical, Granada), we have been creating custom scents for exhibitions, artistic installations, and cultural spaces for years. In this article, we explain how this discipline works, what technical possibilities exist, and why Spanish museums have a unique opportunity to integrate scent into their offerings.
Why smell is the most powerful sense in a museum
Smell is the only sense that connects directly to the limbic system, the area of the brain responsible for emotions and memory. While an image or sound first passes through the thalamus before being interpreted, a scent reaches the areas that manage memories and emotions almost immediately. This has enormous practical consequences: scents generate more lasting memories and more intense emotions than any other sensory stimulus.
Research in environmental psychology shows that smell can account for up to 45% of the total experience in a space. In the context of a museum, this means that adding an olfactory layer to an exhibition can significantly increase visitor dwell time, their level of emotional engagement, and therefore, the likelihood that they will remember the visit intensely.
Museums that work with geur beleving—as we call it in the Dutch tradition where this practice originated—not only offer more content: they offer a complete experience. And that, nowadays, makes the difference between a museum visited once and one returned to.
Real experiences: scents that have transformed exhibitions
Over the years, we have had the privilege of working with some of Europe's most prominent museums. Each project has been a learning experience about how scent can amplify a curatorial narrative.
For the Rijksmuseum Twenthe, we created a collection of four scents for the exhibition on Marinetti and Futurism. Glass bottles with a pump system allowed visitors to activate the scent themselves, generating direct interaction with the artwork. For the Mauritshuis in The Hague, the pandemic posed a challenge: how to let people smell without sharing surfaces? The solution was a foot pump: visitors activated it with their heel, and the scent was released exactly at the observation point of the painting, without any manual contact.
At the Scheepvaartmuseum in Amsterdam, we recreated the atmosphere of a historic port: wood, tar, salt, and sweat. At the Van Gogh Museum, we translated four paintings into four fragrances, an experience originally developed for visually impaired visitors that ended up opening a new dimension for everyone. At the Van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven, scents were presented in wall-mounted containers next to the artworks, allowing visitors to approach and smell intimately and voluntarily.
Every project starts from the same premise: scent is not a decorative addition, but an extension of the narrative. It is custom-made, with the same precision and attention as any other exhibition element.
Olfactory presentation techniques: a range of possibilities
One of the most frequent questions we receive from museum directors and curators is: how is a scent physically presented in an exhibition? The answer depends on the concept, budget, and space conditions, but the options are much broader than many imagine.
Manual dispensers with bottle and pump
The most classic and versatile option. An elegant bottle with a hand atomizer allows visitors to activate the scent when they wish. It's interactive, controllable, and very visual. It can be integrated into display cases, pedestals, or thematic panels. The charge can last for months if the formulation is managed well.
Foot pumps (heel-activated)
Especially useful in contexts where manual contact is to be avoided—for hygienic or accessibility reasons—while still maintaining active visitor participation. The foot activates the pump, and the scent is released at a specific point in the space. This was the solution we developed for the Mauritshuis during the pandemic and has since proven to be one of the most popular.
Scratch and sniff: scratch cards
A technology that encapsulates fragrance microcapsules in special paper. When the surface is scratched, aromatic molecules are released. Ideal for printed materials: brochures, educational sheets, exhibition catalogs. It allows visitors to take the scent home, making the card an olfactory souvenir of the visit. It is also a very economically accessible option for museums with tight budgets.
Olfactory columns (geurzuilen)
Structures specifically designed to present scents interactively. They have outlets at different heights—for adults, children, and wheelchair users—and can integrate several distinct scents. They are especially effective in educational or scientific exhibitions where visitors need to compare and explore.
Noses: wall-mounted olfactory sculptures
Pieces in the shape of a human nose that are fixed to the wall or integrated into display cases. Visitors approach and smell directly, as if naturally smelling. This is a very theatrical and photogenic presentation, ideal for contemporary art exhibitions or immersive installations.
Subtle ambient diffusion
For situations where an atmosphere is desired without visitors being aware that an active scent is present, controlled diffusion systems can be used to release very small amounts of fragrance continuously. The key here is subtlety: the sense of smell quickly saturates, so the concentration must be very low. This technique is commonly used in olfactory marketing—hotels, stores, luxury spaces—but it also has very interesting applications in museums when the aim is to evoke an era, a place, or an atmosphere without visible interactive elements.
Erlenmeyer flasks and scent walls
For scientific or gastronomic exhibitions, classic laboratory flasks allow for an organized and visually impactful presentation of a collection of scents. In the Foodtopia exhibition at Museum Boerhaave, we created a wall of Erlenmeyers with food scents: tangerine, chocolate, fried insects. The serial presentation invites exploration, comparison, and play.
Safety: the non-negotiable criterion
Working with scents in public spaces requires a deep understanding of chemical safety and current regulations. All ingredients we use at Hermozia comply with IFRA (International Fragrance Association) standards, which regulate the safe use of aromatic raw materials in different types of applications.
In the context of museums, this is particularly relevant for several reasons. Firstly, visitors have very diverse profiles: children, older people, individuals with allergies or respiratory sensitivities. Secondly, exposure times can be prolonged, especially in permanent exhibitions. And thirdly, the artworks themselves must also be protected: some fragrances can, in the long term, affect organic materials if not managed correctly.
Our methodology always includes space analysis, selection of raw materials with minimal allergenic profiles, design of presentation systems that ensure controlled and voluntary exposure, and stability tests to ensure the scent remains true throughout the exhibition period.
The creative process: how a museum scent is born
Creating a scent for an exhibition is not simply choosing a beautiful perfume. It is a process of research, dialogue, and sensory translation.
It begins with an in-depth conversation with the curatorial team: what does the exhibition want to convey? What emotions, what eras, what geographies? Should the scent be recognizable or abstract? Should it evoke something concrete or merely create an atmosphere?
Based on that conversation, we begin the composition work. We use both natural raw materials and synthetic molecules—both perfectly legitimate and complementary in professional perfumery. We create several versions, test them in the real space or similar conditions, collect team feedback, and adjust until the desired result is achieved.
Some projects have taken us to unexpected places. The smell of cocaine for the Belasting & Douane Museum. The smell of a damp cellar for an exhibition on the Middle Ages. The scent of freshly cut grass to accompany Van Gogh's sunflower field paintings. In museum perfumery, nothing is impossible: if the scent exists in nature—or in imagination—it can be recreated.
Opportunities for museums in Spain and Andalusia
In Spain, the use of olfactory design in museums and cultural spaces is still in a very nascent phase. This, far from being a problem, is an enormous opportunity. Museums and interpretation centers that integrate smell into their exhibitions in the coming years will be pioneers in their field, with a clear differential advantage over the competition.
Andalusia, in particular, offers an extraordinarily rich context for this type of proposal. The region is home to some of Europe's most fascinating historical, archaeological, and natural heritage sites. The Alhambra, the Phoenician sites on the Costa Tropical, the history of olive oil, the wine traditions of Jerez and Malaga, the Arab culture that for centuries permeated the architecture, gastronomy, and also perfumery of this territory: all of these are extraordinary materials for olfactory design work.
Imagine an interpretation center about the Phoenician presence on the Granada coast where, upon entering the room dedicated to Mediterranean trade, visitors perceive the aromas of spices, honey wine, and cedar wood that Phoenician ships carried. Or an exhibition about Al-Andalus where the scents of oud, saffron, and rose water from the Nasrid gardens accompany each room. These experiences not only enrich the visit: they make it memorable, unique, and unrepeatable.
Hermozia: custom scent creation on the Costa Tropical
At Hermozia, we combine over ten years of experience in olfactory design with a base in the heart of the Costa Tropical, in Almuñécar. This allows us to work with cultural institutions at both national and international levels, as well as with museums, interpretation centers, and creative spaces throughout Andalusia.
Our services for the cultural sector include the creation of custom scents for temporary and permanent exhibitions, the design and manufacture of olfactory presentation systems, technical advice on safety and IFRA regulations, training workshops on perfumery and the sense of smell for mediation teams, and the production of olfactory outreach materials such as scratch and sniff cards or educational kits.
If you are thinking of incorporating scent into your next exhibition or if you want to explore how olfactory design can transform the experience of your museum or cultural space, we would love to hear about your project.
Do you have a cultural project in mind? Write to us and let's talk. The right scent can turn an exhibition into an experience that visitors will remember forever.