Did You Know? Rose Perfume Has a History Stretching Back Thousands of Years to Ancient Persia

When we talk about "perfume," the liquid with an alluring scent, the fragrance people know best is that of the rose, the flower of love, whose scent carries the feeling of love.

But did you know that "rose perfume" has a history thousands of years long, going back to ancient Persia? Iranians today still keep a bond with the rose, and it has become their national flower.

Persia also spread the methods of making rose perfume to every corner of the world, and one interesting place is Bulgaria.

The Wild Chronicles takes you back to the beginning, when humans first made "rose perfume" and passed on the knowledge until it became a treasured "rose perfume."

1. To find the origin of perfume from roses we have to go back
to the beginning, in the age of ancient Persia more than 2,000 years ago. It is believed that the Qamsar area in Isfahan Province, in present-day Iran, began growing the Damask rose, a variety with an especially fine scent that is widely used in making perfume. Iranians call this rose "gol mohamadi."

2. In ancient Persian, rose water was called "gulāb," from the words gul, meaning "rose," and "āb" or "ab," meaning "water" (the Thai word for rose, kulap, was borrowed from Persian).

As for rose oil, the key ingredient in perfume making, ancient Persian used various terms, but generally it was called "roghan-e gol," which literally means "rose oil," or "attar," the word the Islamic world commonly uses for essential oils.

3. The earliest methods of extracting fragrance from roses were not very complicated. For example, whole roses were boiled to make a balm with healing properties and a pleasant scent. Soaking or steeping roses in oil was another way to extract the fragrance.

4. Extraction became much more refined when a Persian scholar in the 10th century discovered the process of steam distillation to extract essential oil and rose water from flowers.

The rose oil extracted became the main ingredient of perfume in Persia and, later, around the world. Its strong and lasting scent made rose oil highly sought after in fine perfumery. A by-product of steam extraction is rose water, which was used in other ways, such as cooking, medicine and rituals, adding value to the production process.

Because of these many qualities, the ancient Persians held rose essential oil in great reverence, regarding it as a symbol of luxury and using it in religious ceremonies. It could also be used in medicine.

5. The ancient Persian empire was a center of trade, so Persian culture spread to many regions through merchants who came to trade with Persia. This included the knowledge and techniques of creating fragrance from roses, which spread throughout the Islamic world, India and into Europe.

Iranian roses were extremely important in the Islamic world. They believed that Persian rose water from the city of Kashan was the best rose water, so much so that water mixed with rose perfume is used to wash the sacred Kaaba in Mecca every year.

6. In addition, Persian knowledge of making rose perfume spread to India during the Mughal Empire. The Mughal emperors placed great importance on rose oil and rose water, using them in rituals and medicine, and by the 17th century roses were widely cultivated in India.

7. In Europe, rose perfume began to spread during the Crusades, and people brought Damask roses from Syria (whose true origin is in Iran) to plant in Europe, where they became widespread.

8. The most famous rose-growing area of all is the Rose Valley near Kazanlak, Bulgaria, where roses of this kind have been grown since the 17th century to be extracted into rose oil. The extraction requires a special technique devised and first practiced by the people of Kazanlak.

9. Rose perfume from Kazanlak is a valuable product with a fairly high price, because the petals are picked by hand one by one, only in the morning, to preserve the quality of the fragrance. The amount of petals needed to extract the oil is very large: just 1 milligram of rose oil takes as many as 50,000 rose petals.

10. The rose perfume from this valley has a very fine and distinctive fragrance. Used in medicine, it can reduce anxiety and help people sleep better. Used in beauty products, it is popularly made into soaps, creams and above all perfume, becoming a hugely popular ingredient among the world's leading brands, for example in the Rose Prick scent by Tom Ford and the Red Roses Cologne by Jo Malone London. The scent of this ingredient feels alluring and refreshing at the same time.

11. Making rose perfume has therefore become an important part of daily life for the people of Kazanlak, shaping their way of life, culture and traditions to this day. In 1903 Kazanlak held its first celebration of the rose. It marks the time when gardeners can harvest the crop they have tended all year and extract it into rose oil, which brings them considerable income.

12. We call this the "Rose Festival," and it continues to be held up to 2025, when the people of Kazanlak held their grand celebration for the 122nd year, celebrating prosperity and giving thanks to the weather and the heavens for blessing them with thriving Damask roses.

The Rose Festival expresses and reflects the identity and way of life of the people of this region very well, a value created from the beauty and benefits of nature and shown to the eyes of the world.

So if you want a perfume famed for its scent and with a long story, as a gift for yourself or someone else, rose perfume from Iran and Bulgaria is an excellent fit!

13. We would like you to know that The Wild Chronicles is now organizing a "Rose Festival" tour, taking you to join the festival in Kazanlak, along with the highlights of Romania and Bulgaria, to your heart's content.

If you are interested in the itinerary, you can contact us by inbox or add our LINE OA at @thewildchronicles (type @ in front) and type "สนใจทัวร์บัลแกเรีย" (interested in the Bulgaria tour).

14. We also have a tour to Iran! On this tour we will take you to the key historical sites in Iran, so that you understand what is happening in "Iran" all in one place.

If you are interested in the itinerary, you can contact us by inbox or add our LINE OA at @thewildchronicles (type @ in front) and type "สนใจทัวร์อิหร่าน" (interested in the Iran tour).

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