Slovenian-Polish researchers busy unlocking the scent of history
Ljubljana, 2 August - Determined to address the absence of the dimension of scent and allow visitors to experience items in museums beyond merer visual observation, a Slovenian-Polish project has set about understanding the role of scent in historical contexts and developing methods to reproduce and archive these scents for future generations.
A collaboration between the National Museum of Slovenia, the Ljubljana Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, and the Krakow National Museum the University of Economics, the Odotheka project involves the analysis of the scent of ten museum items for the time being.
The items, five each from Slovenia and Poland, were chosen for their diversity and the significance of scent in their interpretation. Noteworthy Slovenian artefacts include the snuffbox of the renowned poet France Prešeren (1800-1849), an imperial seal of Empress Maria Theresa, and Johann Weikhard von Valvasor's work Carniola antiqua et nova.
The Polish team meanwhile first took on the scent of the famous painting Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo da Vinci, kept by the Czartoryski Museum in Krakow.
The research, whose end goal is a library of scents that could be reproduced and provided to visitors along with the visual experience of an artefact, involves sealing the objects in airtight spaces to capture the volatile compounds responsible for the specific odours.
These compounds are identified using advanced techniques such as gas chromatography, which separates the different components at elevated temperatures. This method is coupled with olfactory assessments by trained individuals who describe the scents in detail, noting specific "notes" such as woody, vanilla, or acidic tones, as well as the intensity and hedonic value - whether the scent is pleasant or not.
To carry out the research, several olfactory experts have been trained using a special programme to easily identify and describe the smells of some 60 common aromatic compounds and their mixtures.
A crucial aspect of the project is also the development of methods to synthesise or reproduce these historical scents. Matija Strlič of the Faculty of Chemistry elaborated for the STA that once a scent has been evaluated both sensorially and olfactorily, and its chemical composition is known, it can be reconstructed in the laboratory.
This means a solution can be prepared that has the same scent as the object itself and can be offered to museum visitors in a variety of ways. Examples from museum practice show that it is best to do this for each visitor separately.
The Slovenian National Museum explained that the project, which started at the end of 2021 and will conclude on 30 November this year, was also motivated by the frustrating absence of scent in some of its past exhibitions, notably a 2008 exhibition titled Images of the Balkans.
It is also topical in the context of a planned exhibition called Culture of Enjoyment, where coffee, tea, tobacco, and chocolate will play a crucial role.
Moving forward, the project participants believe that the work on capturing and archiving scents should continue beyond the current scope. Indeed, many of the Slovenian participants are already involved in a new project titled Scent and Intangible Cultural Heritage, which started this month.