Maja Myrurgia

Myrurgia is a perfumery company founded in Barcelona in 1916 by Esteve Monegal y Prat. It achieved a very important presence not only in Spain, but also in the international markets, with products – colognes, soaps, perfumes – that played with the charisma of orientalism (“Maderas de Oriente”), Hispanic exoticism (“Maja”) or even clear hedonistic evocations (“orgía”).

Among the creations of this firm are the colognes and perfumes 1916, Myrurgia, Joya, as well as lines created for other firms, such as Adolfo Domínguez, Antonio Miró, Amichi, Don Algodón, or Massimo Dutti, among others.

Picture by Alex P. Kok https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Alex_P._Kok
Myrurgia Soaps (Picture by Alex P. Kok)

Monegal’s status as a plastic artist led him to be very careful in the presentation and advertising of his products, which were always of high quality thanks to the collaboration of artists such as Eduard Jener and Jacob Baron de Wilkinson. “La Maja” line of soaps and perfumes poster is a drawing by Eduard Jener, who was inspired by the dancer Carmen Tórtola Valencia and a photograph of her show La Tirana.

Myrurgia was installed in a building designed by Antonio Puig Gairalt (1930), one of the most outstanding of the present Catalan rationalism, whose decoration is paradigmatic of art deco, and with a three-part bronze relief frieze on the façade, the work of the Madrid sculptor Reste (Restituto Martín Gamo).

In 2000 this historic brand was acquired by Puig perfume corporation.