Schokoladen Museum

Normally I find chocolate museums rather disappointing. You see, I really quite like chocolate, so I somehow expect a chocolate museum to be equally delicious. Then you go in and you find the typical displays about chocolate history in South America, eating it with chilli and progress to milk chocolate. Well, this museum has all that, but also has a lot more.

There is a large robotic factory process, which is quite interesting to watch as molten chocolate is moulded, cooled and packaged. There are interactive games (where do these breeds of cows come from?), a small greenhouse rainforest with cocoa trees, a rather pathetic chocolate fountain and a display of old vending machines. Did you know that the Greek mathematician Heron of Alexandria wrote about vending machines in ~100 CE? They operated with the insertion of a five drachma piece and dispensed holey water.

My favourite was the advertising display. There is a small cinema that runs the old adds for Stollwerck chocolate. The earliest adds focussed on showing how chocolate had so many calories. If you were on a skiing expedition you could eat many sausages and still not get as many calories as a Stollwerck chocolate bar, which would keep you going. If you child is too skinny and beating her doesn't help? Stollwerck chocolate will make her fat!

Entry is €7.50/adult, €5/concession.