CHOCOLATE MUSEUM

Cologne's most visited private museum! You'll learn all about cocoa production, its place in the cultural history of pre-Columbian America and Europe (from the ^18th century to the present day), and the marketing of industrial chocolate since the ^19th century... Hans Imhoff, a passionate chocolate manufacturer, had a dream: to open a chocolate museum with an endlessly flowing chocolate fountain. On October 31, 1993, the dream was realized. With around 600,000 visitors a year, it is Cologne's most popular cultural institution. Over 4,000 m² of exhibition space is devoted to the history of cocoa and chocolate, past and present. The diversity of 5,000 years of cocoa cultural history is illustrated, as is modern chocolate production, from cocoa beans to chocolate pralines. A panoramic palm grove, information on the natural history of cocoa, exhibits on the pre-Columbian cultures of Central America, an extensive collection of Baroque porcelain and silverware, and a host of historic machines from the industrialization period await visitors. In the glass-walled production facilities and chocolate-making workshop, visitors can discover how chocolate products are made both mechanically and by hand. The highlight of the tour is the three-metre-high chocolate fountain, which is continuously supplied with 200 kg of fresh Lindt chocolate.