Fragrance house

N°4711

N°4711 traces its origin to 8 October 1792, when Cologne merchant Wilhelm Mülhens received a secret aqua mirabilis recipe and began making perfumed water in Cologne. The name comes from the house number assigned to the Mülhens building in Glockengasse during the French occupation; it was registered as a trademark in 1875. In 1810, after medicinal recipes were required to be disclosed, Mülhens repositioned the product as an externally applied fragrance and adopted the Molanus bottle. The Mülhens family sold the company to Wella in 1994, and Procter & Gamble later sold the 4711 brand family to Mäurer & Wirtz in 2006. Under Mäurer & Wirtz, 4711 developed from a single traditional Cologne water into an umbrella brand that includes newer fragrance interpretations, including Acqua Colonia, launched in 2009. Its defining fragrance, 4711 Original Eau de Cologne, retains its seven principal ingredients from 1792 and marked its 230th anniversary in 2022.