Osmothèque
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| Established | April 26, 1990 |
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| Location | 36 Rue du Parc de Clagny 78000 Versailles |
| Coordinates | 48°49′02″N 2°08′30″E / 48.817178°N 2.141558°E |
| Type | Scent archive |
| President | Patricia de Nicolaï |
| Public transit access | Gare de Versailles-Rive-Droite |
| Website | osmotheque.fr |
The Osmothèque (from Greek osmē "scent" patterned on French bibliothèque "library") is the world’s largest scent archive, a leading international research institution tracing the history of perfumery, based in Versailles with conference centers in New York City and Paris. Founded in 1990 by Jean Kerléo and other senior perfumers including Jean-Claude Ellena and Guy Robert, the Osmothèque is internationally responsible for the authentication, registration, preservation, documentation and reproduction of thousands of perfumes gathered from the past two millennia, archived at the Osmothèque repository and consultable by the public.
Exclusive to the collection are countless rare masterpieces elsewhere discontinued or reformulated, including François Coty’s Chypre (Coty), Paul Parquet’s Fougère Royale (Houbigant) and Aimé Guerlain's Jicky (Guerlain) as well as numerous personalized fragrances worn by historical figures such as Elizabeth of Poland, Napoleon and Eugénie de Montijo. Since 2008, Patricia de Nicolaï has served as the institution’s president.
The founding of the world’s first international scent archive was initially proposed to the Société Française des Parfumeurs in 1976 by Jean Kerléo, then head perfumer at Jean Patou, in an effort to formally record and preserve the history of perfumery. Kerléo envisioned reconstituting various discontinued classics according to their original formulae, working in collaboration with the world’s foremost perfumers and perfume houses. An advisory committee was thus assembled, composed of experts Jean-François Blayn, Raymond Chaillan, Jean-Claude Ellena, Yuri Gutsatz, Jeannine Mongin, Raymond Pouliquen, Guy Robert and Henri Sebag.
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