Recognized by the prestigious architectural award Prix Versailles, a fragrance-themed museum in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province is attracting visitors with unique design and scented experience.

Already earning the Guinness World Record registration as the world's largest fragrance museum, the Xuelei Fragrance Museum has recently been included onto Prix Versailles' list of the world's most beautiful museums for 2026.
From a distance, the museum looks like a castle with its cluster of red brick cylinders and large floor-to-ceiling windows.
"The design of the museum was inspired by ancient perfume distillation equipment. We transformed that concept into the design of the cylinder-like buildings we see today. The red bricks structure brings out a sense of historical depth, while the use of glass reflects the modern side of fragrance as both a scientific study and an art," said Weng Tong, deputy curator of the museum.
The museum features 18 themed exhibition areas, with over 50 interactive installations and more than 300 fragrance stations, allowing visitors to explore incense for Ancient Egyptian rituals, the characteristics of oriental fragrances and all the way to the origins of the modern perfume industry.
"(I learned how) people would use these fragrances and materials in ancient times. Normally, when I think of perfume, it's just buying a bottle of chemicals. I never imagined what the real raw materials could be, so it's quite interesting," said a visitor.
After exploring the exhibits, there's another surprise. Visitors can head to fragrance-making machines, which record their scent preferences, to create a personalized perfume with the help of AI.