DÜSSELDORF, Germany: Ever wondered what war smells like? Or ponder the odor of love, or the stench of medieval Paris, or the sacred fragrance of religion?
A new exhibition in Germany allows visitors to discover unknown worlds of smells by sniffing their way through 81 different fragrances across 37 different galleries.
The show “The Secret Power of Scents,” which opens to the public on Wednesday at the Kunstpalast museum, in the western city of Düsseldorf, combines fragrances with art, taking visitors on a journey of more than 1,000 years of cultural history.
“This exhibition is an experiment — and an invitation for our audience to discover the history of scents with their noses,” said Felix Krämer, the museum’s director general.
The exhibition follows a chronological order, from religious artifacts of the Middle Ages through to contemporary art of the 21st century. The various galleries are equipped with scent steles, atomizers and diffusers to create a connection between the art and the smell of a specific time period or cultural context.
