Cyprus Hotels: The Local History of Perfume

While you book your Cyprus hotels , you might like to know that Cyprus was actually one of the places to create perfume in ancient times. A few years ago archaeologists even found the world’s oldest perfume lab, in Pyrgos, and with it there were residues of almond, bergamot and other perfume ingredients. The perfume of Cyprus had such effect on the world that it inspired other perfume-making nations around the globe.

Back in 2000 BC, perfume was being created in Cyprus, where priests would use the lotions in their religious rituals to appease the gods. These perfumes were a combination of local olive oils and essential oils made from flowers and herbs. By the time the 12th century rolled round, people started to take notice, and these perfumes were exported to France. The Cyprus perfumes, or “Eau de Chypre” were a huge hit with the French, and even nobles would seek out the various scents to wear. There were plenty of perfumes being made across Europe at the time, but the spicy floral scents of the Cypriot perfumes proved very popular.

During the Middle Ages, Cyprus perfume went into decline as other perfumes, especially those from Egypt superseded them. They would have faded into obscurity altogether had not Franois Coty developed an incredibly popular perfume in 1917 and named it ‘Chypre de Coty’.

With the same kinds of ingredients being used by Coty as was used back in the ancient times, these new perfumes were very similar to the original, and developed into a popular style of scent. Don’t forget to see if you can find some in the markets near your Ayia Napa hotels .

One of the popular Chypre perfumes in the range included “Chanel Cuir de Russie”. This spicy scent was made in the 1920s, when the Russian aristocrats had left Russia during the Revolution and had taken residence in various hotels in Cyprus. They very last perfume to be made in the Chypre range was, fittingly, created especially for Coco Chanel. It was called Chanel 19 in honour of the French perfumier’s birthday. It’s almost impossible to find it now, and is very valuable.

Claire Collins writes about her favourite hotels and destinations around the globe.

Source: http://eva-news.com