Scent researcher Eveline de Smalen will speak about the scents of Fryslân during Akademydag

“A Nose for Heritage is a collaborative project between the KNAW Humanities Cluster (Meertens Institute and NL-Lab), International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF), and the Fryske Akademy. Together with my colleagues, I am researching Frisian scent heritage: which scents truly make Friesland what it is, and how have characteristic scents changed over time?”

“To find out, we’ve distributed a questionnaire that’s open to anyone with a connection to Fryslân. We’re also hosting workshops featuring a ‘scent exploration station.’ Using that, I’ll talk with small groups of ‘scent explorers’ about specific scents and what they mean to them. I’ll also be researching scents in literature and archives.”

“Ultimately, we want to select about ten or eleven scents that tell the story of Fryslân through scent. We’ll present these scents in a museum or heritage institution, and perhaps even in a traveling exhibition that takes a ‘scent tour’ of the Eleven Cities.”

“Our research stems from Odeuropa, a project on olfactory heritage in Europe that has collected historical scents from across the continent. It may seem difficult to distill all of Fryslân’s scents into a single, coherent collection of scents that capture the essence of Fryslân—and it is! But if it’s been done successfully for all of Europe, then it will certainly work for Fryslân as well.”

“I studied English literature. Gradually, I became more interested in the role of nature and the environment in literature from and about the Northern Netherlands. Since 2025, I have been focusing specifically on the Frisian language and culture. As a Tresoar Fellow, I researched the depiction of the Wadden Sea in the work of Durk van der Ploeg, and now I am a visiting researcher at the Meertens Institute and the Fryske Akademy. My connection to Fryslân stems from my love of language and literature.”