Oil rose cultivation had been started by the immigrants who arrived in Anatolia. Although the first rose gardens were started in Bursa and Istanbul and many other Anatolian provinces, later on, it developed only in Isparta, Burdur, Afyon and Denizli provinces and this region became the center of rose oil production in our country. Rose saplings were first brought to Isparta by Bulgarian immigrant Müftüzade İsmail Efendi from the Kızanlık region of Bulgaria.
Oil rose (Rosa Damascena Mill) is from the Rosaceae family and is the most important fragrant rose type which is an essential oil is used for the perfume and cosmetics industry. As the number of natural roses grown in our country, two of the 25 rose species are natural hybrids of Rosa Gallica and Rosa Phenicia Boiss. Isparta Rose, or pink oil rose, is distilled from fresh rose flowers.
Rose oil and rose water are obtained from fresh flowers by water and steam distillation. The Rose Oil obtained is one of the most valuable raw materials of the perfume, fragrance and cosmetics industry. Rose water, which is obtained as a by-product, is frequently used in many products in cosmetics, as an antiseptic in medicine, as an antipyretic and as a flavor and fragrance in the food industry.
The first modern rose oil factory was established in 1935 with the instructions of Atatürk, who visited the city on March 6, 1930. After these developments, the economy of the city undergoes a radical change. So much so that Isparta turns into the land of roses from now on. Isparta is one of the rare cities in the world with the destiny of a plant.
Isparta province constitutes a passageway between the Central Anatolia and the Mediterranean Regions, which are two separate regions in terms of climate. Therefore, summers are hot and dry, winters are cold and rainy. The summer months are not as hot as Western and Southern Anatolia, and the winter months are not as harsh as Central Anatolia.
Rose oil has survived to this day as an indispensable substance for doctors and women. In the treatment, rose has been used as a medicine in the traditional medicine world. Processed as rose water, rose paste and rose oil, it is written in traditional medicine books that it is beneficial in treating ailments such as headache, fever, fainting, stomach ache, and eye bleeding in these three different ways.
"From fairest creatures we desire increase,
That thereby beauty’s rose might never die"
Shakespeare