"Chocolate Museum" Imhoff-Stollwerck Chocolate Museum Tip by SWFC_Fan

I visited Cologne's Chocolate Museum during my visit to the city in July 2006.

Having read that it was similar to "Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory", I expected to be lavished with free chocolate samples. Alas, the only samples were a small chocolate and a wafer dipped in the "chocolate fountain".

The first part of the exhibit provides various information about cocoa (where it is grown, how it is cultivated, what different types are used for making different chocolates...) and there is a temperature controlled tropical greenhouse containing cocoa plants.

Next was a special exhibit, coinciding with Germany hosting the World Cup, showing chocolate bar wrappers, tins and advertisements from around the world which incorporate football team logos and players into their designs.

The museum then opens up into a large production area where you can see the chocolates being produced. These range from small individual chocolates on a conveyor belt to chocolates shaped as bunnies or Father Christmases or footballs using special moulds. Children can design their own pralines to take home with them.

One of the highlights in this part of the museum is the "chocolate fountain" - runny chocolate being produced in a small fountain - but it isn't nearly as impressive as it sounds!

Upstairs, the museum provides a detailed history of chocolate from its beginnings as a luxury drink for society's elite through to its commercialisation as a popular product for the masses. This part of the museum isn't as much fun as watching (and smelling) the chocolates being produced, but it does provide an extensive selection of exhibits. For example, there are displays of crockery from the early days of chocolate production in Central America, there are walls full of chocolate advertisement posters from years gone by and there are biographies of key figures in chocolate's history.

There is a chocolate shop and a cafe on site.

Photography is permitted throughout the museum.

Address: Rheinauhafen 1a, Cologne
Directions: Located in a glass fronted building on the banks of the Rhine.

Prices

Adults: 6 Euros / Groups of 15+ = 5.50 Euros
Concessions: 3.50 Euros / Groups of 15+ = 3 Euros

Opening hours

Tues-Fri: 10am-6pm
Sat/Sun/Hols: 11am-7pm
Closed Mondays
othercontact: servive@schokoladenmuseum.de
Phone: +49 (0)221 9318880
Website: http://www.schokoladenmuseum.de