From Smelly Buildings to the Scented Past: An Overview of Olfactory Heritage

Abstract

Olfactory heritage is an aspect of cultural heritage concerning the smells that are meaningful to a community due to their connections with significant places, practices, objects or traditions. Knowledge in this field is produced at the intersection of history, heritage science, chemistry, archaeology, anthropology, art history, sensory science, olfactory museology, sensory geography and other domains. Drawing on perspectives from system dynamics, an approach which focuses on how parts of a system and their relationships result in the collective behaviours of the system, we will outline a series of practices relevant to this field and identify the elements, materials and competences involved, as well as the connections and interactions. While research in olfactory heritage is currently growing, much of the knowledge that could advance our understanding of this field is still being developed within disciplinary boundaries, leading to little integration of the knowledge and methods and limited interdisciplinary interpretation of findings. In the first part, we review the methodologies for identifying, researching and preserving olfactory heritage, highlighting methodological opportunities and challenges from diverse perspectives like smellscape research, odour nuisance management or heritage science. In the second part, we review the presentation and communication of olfactory heritage in museums and other heritage spaces, outlining the value of presenting scents to wide audiences for interpretation and engagement purposes. Finally, we discuss challenges associated with historical scent reconstruction, and discuss future directions for the field, such as the potential of mining large digital collections for olfactory data.

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in Heritage Environments and Their Analysis: A Review

“…An olfactory (or smell) exhibition is a type of exhibition in which smells are intentionally part of an exhibition as "olfactory objects" in their own right or related to material works of art. Here, volatile compounds are used to enhance a display or an exhibition and add an olfactory dimension to better engage visitors or an interaction tool for visually impaired people [18,55]. Although it used to be possible to touch and interact directly with artworks in museums in the past, with the rise of tourism in the 19 th century, museums mostly turned to exclusively visual interaction to avoid tactile interaction [56].…”

“…An olfactory exhibition" [61]. All these examples show that interest in odours has increased significantly in recent years, which has led to the development of various olfactory interpretation, conservation and engagement projects [55].…”

Olfactoscapes in Malawi: Exploring the smells children like and are exposed to in semi-urban classrooms

“…Thus far, olfaction, as a nascent area of research in social studies and humanities, has attracted nuanced scholarly interest dedicated to the investigation of smells that are being lost with the disappearance of historical artefacts (Miotto, 2016), natural and urban places (Bembibre and Strlič, 2021) and emerging olfactory virtual reality art (e.g. Niedenthal et al, 2019).…”

Sensory experiences in heritage contexts: A qualitative approach

“…Research on the use of interactive technologies and artificial intelligence techniques as tools to intensify visitors' experience and their engagement with history has been growing and enriching, with remarkable contributions, both for understanding consumer behaviour and the adoption of new management practices (Bec et al, 2019;Bembibre & Strlič, 2022;Buonincontri & Marasco, 2017;Cantoni et al, 2018;Castilla et al, 2021;Chalmers, 2017;Marto et al, 2019;Pettoello, 2016;Timothy, 2018). These technological tools enable navigating historical attractions, cities (Meschini & Ippoliti, 2015), monuments, archaeological sites, and museums (Pettoello, 2016).…”

“…The smell also appears as an option to recreate references to the past by using herbs and plants. As Bembibre and Strlič (2022) emphasize, "textual and visual sources can offer (...) valuable clues to capturing and interpreting the smells of the past. Sometimes, these clues are supported by material evidence, such as historical artifacts" (p. 3).…”