Inside the Beautik perfumery on Calea Dorobanților, there is a corner of Bucharest that few people know about and even fewer forget after seeing it. The Perfume Museum impresses differently than you might expect — through density, through stories, through the weight of time concentrated in a few dozen square metres. Over 3,000 perfume bottles, each with its own history, collected over decades by Val Iacob, the owner of both the collection and the perfumery that houses it.

The man behind the collection

Val Iacob holds, in total, over 20,000 objects related to the history and evolution of perfume. What is on display represents only a portion of these — a selection designed to illustrate as fully as possible the journey of perfume across centuries, from simple pharmacy bottles to the flacon as a work of art. "I started from the idea that nobody escapes the encounter with the smells around them," says Iacob. His passion is that of someone trying to preserve an olfactory history that risks being lost, rather than simply a collector drawn to beautiful objects.

What you find in the collection

The centrepiece of the museum is a Lubin eau de toilette from 1825, kept in its original pharmacy bottle alongside its original box. Since the moment it was created, the world has changed beyond recognition: Romania gained its independence, two world wars were fought, the first aeroplanes took flight. The perfume remained intact. The person from whom Iacob acquired it had never managed to open it — which likely contributed to preserving the liquid inside. The perfume is so rare that Gilles Lubin, the current head of the French brand, had never seen it until a visit to Romania.

Another key exhibit is the perfume "Mon Boudoir" by the House of Houbigant — the favourite of Queen Marie of Romania, withdrawn from production in 1938 upon her death, as a mark of respect for the woman considered at the time "the most beautiful queen in Europe." In September 2019, Val Iacob convinced Houbigant to reproduce this perfume, exactly 100 years after its original launch.

The collection also includes fragrances associated with celebrated historical figures: "Le Vainqueur" by the House of Rancé, worn by Napoleon Bonaparte and still produced today according to the original recipe, and Gin Fizz, created in 1955 for Grace Kelly, whose scent closely resembles a gin and tonic.

Romania and European perfumery

Few people know that, roughly a hundred years ago, Romania was the second largest producer of perfumes in Europe, after France. This was the interwar period, when Bucharest was known as Little Paris and the great French houses — Coty, Guerlain, Lubin — had factories between the Carpathians and the Black Sea. The museum illustrates this connection through exceptional pieces that reached Romania precisely because the country was, at that time, an important market for luxury perfumery.

A generous section of the collection is dedicated to Romanian brands: Bob, Eva, Adam, Miraj, Macul Roșu, Farmec. The bottles can no longer be smelled — but the visual impact is powerful for anyone who grew up with these products at home, and for younger visitors they offer a window into a local cosmetics industry that mainstream history rarely discusses.

The flacon as an object of art

The chronology presented in the museum clearly traces the evolution of the perfume bottle: from the plain pharmacy glass of the nineteenth century, devoid of ornamentation, to the modern flacon conceived as a design object — some decorated with beads, others crafted from Baccarat crystal. This evolution reflects a broader shift in the relationship between perfume and identity: from functional product to cultural symbol.

Practical information

The Perfume Museum is an initiative by Val Iacob, opened in 2014 within the Beautik perfumery chain. According to information from January 2026, the exhibition at the original Calea Dorobanților location was closed to the public, with no confirmed reopening date. It is possible that the museum has since been relocated to one of the chain's other locations.

Before making a special trip, the safest option is to check the current situation directly with one of the locations listed below. Admission has been free during all periods when the museum has been open.

Beautik locations in Bucharest:

Str. Locotenent Aviator Radu Beller nr. 6, Sector 1 — tel. 0743 059 389
Calea Dorobanților nr. 172, Sector 1 (Mario Plaza)
Șos. București-Ploiești nr. 42D (Băneasa Shopping City)
Bd. Vasile Milea nr. 4, Sector 6 (AFI Cotroceni)
Calea Floreasca nr. 246B, Sector 1 (Promenada Mall)