Fragrance house

4711 Acqua Colonia

4711 Acqua Colonia is a sub-brand of 4711, launched in 2009 as a collection of unisex colognes inspired by nature. Its fresh eaux de cologne use contrasting, nature-inspired ingredients. The story reaches back through the 4711 house to 1792, when Wilhelm Mülhens received a recipe for an aqua mirabilis as a wedding present and used it to make perfumed water in Cologne. In 1810, that preparation was repositioned from a medicinal product for internal and external use as a fragrance applied externally. The name 4711 derives from the house number assigned to the Cologne Glockengasse premises in 1794 and became a registered trademark in 1875. Mäurer & Wirtz places Acqua Colonia within the 4711 brand family. The collection marked its tenth anniversary in 2019, and in 2025 its Collection Absolue received the top prize at the German Brand Awards, extending the concept into a niche-fragrance presentation.