What do the Cuban Revolution, the Dada Art Movement, and the Mirror Gallery inside Versailles all have in common? One-of-a-kind Cire Trudon candles. Wait, what?

Three centuries old, the French candle company Cire Trudon portrays hundreds of years of history through their specific scents, bringing past historical moments to life through the names of the candles, named after specific historical happenings or figures, and the combined fragrances to create that scent for each moment, combined individually into unique Italian glass jars.

The Cire Trudon story starts in 1643, in Paris, France, with a man by the name of Claude Trudon. Originally the owner of a grocery store, Trudon supplied his own candles in his store, and during the same year, began selling candles exclusively. Jacque Trudon, Claude Trudon’s son, followed in his father’s footsteps, and in 1687, Jacque entered the court of Versailles as the apothecary distiller to Louis XIV’s wife. 

The company soon became known for their highly regarded candles, providing candles for well-known cathedrals and churches throughout the city, boasting both long-lasting burn time, and flames which didn’t smoke, made possible by the company collecting the best wax available throughout the city, and importing the best cotton to provide wicks for their candles.

After the monarchy collapsed and Napoleon rose to power, Trudon entered the court alongside him, and when Napoleon’s son, Napoleon II, was born in 1811, Napoleon gifted him a single present: a Trudon candle, surrounded by three pieces of gold, featuring Napoleon’s head.

Cire Trudon was restored and rebranded in 2007 by Co-Owner Ramdane Touhami, who also designed Cire Trudon’s Parisian store. Touhami helped bring twenty-two new signature scents life, which all pull from history. Each candle begins by mixing liquified wax with its signature scent, and is then hand-transferred into one of their handmade glass jars from Vinci, Italy. 

Cire Trudon candles, room sprays, and busts are available in The Shop at Oxford Exchange. If you’re unsure where to start your journey throughout the collection of scents that are centuries old, the buyer’s favorites within the collection are the Abd El Kader (spearmint, jasmine, vanilla), and Chandernagor (mint, camphor, eucalyptus) candles.