The Schokoladenmuseum Köln was opened by Hans Imhoff on 31 October 1993. It is situated in the Cologne quarter of Altstadt-Süd on the Rheinauhafen peninsula. The exhibits show the entire history of chocolate, from its beginnings with the Olmecs, Maya, and Aztecs to contemporary products and production methods. The exhibition building houses a permanent exhibition on modern chocolate production.
With 4,000 guided tours and 650,000 visitors a year, the museum is in the top ten museums in Germany. The museum is entirely self-supporting, receiving no subsidy. It has its own marketing department and is used by the Schokoladenmuseum Gastronomie GmbH for events.
The exhibition shows the entire history of chocolate, from its beginnings with the Olmec, Maya and Aztecs to today’s chocolate-containing products and their production methods. A miniature production facility is installed on the 4,000 m² (43,000 square feet) exhibition area, which demonstrates to the visitor how industrial chocolate production works.
Miniature versions of machines used in the production of chocolate, allowing visitors to observe the process of making the small chocolate bars which are given out at the entrance.
A special attraction is the 3-metre (9.8 ft) tall chocolate fountain; an employee dips wafers into the liquid chocolate and distributes them to the visitors.
At the entrance of the museum is a shop with a wide range of chocolate products and pralines. In 2006, the chocolate museum entered a partnership deal with Lindt & Sprüngli, therefore most of the products in the shop are by this manufacturer. This deal succeeded its previous one with the Cologne-based chocolate producer Stollwerck.
Among the most valuable items in the museum’s collection are 18th and 19th-century porcelain and silver bowls and vessels for drinking chocolate from pre-ColumbianMesoamerica. The museum also has on display historical chocolate machines and moulds for forming chocolate in different shapes, and a collection of historical chocolate vending machines.
[responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is the agricultural policy of the European Union. It implements a system of agricultural subsidies and other programmes. It was introduced in 1962 and has since then undergone seve...