The Grottoes on the ground floor of the Cameron Gallery temporarily house Court Perfumer, an interactive exhibition and laboratory presented by Tsarskoe Selo and St Petersburg Perfumers Guild from June 2 to September 30, 2016.

Special video information in Russian, English and Chinese introduces visitors to the history of Russian perfumery during the eighteenth to the early twentieth century, giving facts about perfume etiquette and secrets of perfume creation. The mobile laboratory section of the exhibition allows for visitors to compose scents of their own liking.

Besides some interesting archive materials and images of old perfume bottles and early twentieth-century advertising pamphlets, our visitors can try the fragrances of some lost perfumes from the Tsarist Russia, reconstructed by modern experts from archived recipes. The fragrances on display are those liked by Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, his wife Alexandra and other family members.

The spirit of bygone times is evoked by costumes of the artist and fashion historian Svetlana Sukhoruchenko.