The chocolate museum of Cologne in Germany

# Intro:

Nowadays, chocolate is worldwide known, and many quotations exist.

The most famous can be an extract from the movie “Forrest Gump”: ‘Life is like a box of chocolates… you never know what you’re gonna get’.

One more : As the American illustrator John Tullius said: ‘Nine out of ten people like chocolate. The tenth person always lies’.

He gives the following observation: for some centuries, chocolate has become a very popular product and has diversified. Indeed, now you can buy a chocolate beer, or chocolate wine for example!

During Christmas time or at Easter, we can see that chocolate boxes invade our supermarkets.

So it’s because chocolate is everywhere that it became the subject of some museums, such as the “Shokoladenmuseum” in Köln (Cologne), Germany.

First opened in 1993 and located on a little island on the Rhine (called the Rheinauhafen peninsula in the neighbourhood of Altstadt-Süd) this museum is very popular. You can learn about the history of chocolate or its production… with more than 2000 objects.

So first, we will speak to you about the creation of the museum and its main themes. With Cecilia, Eric and Elodie we visited this museum one month ago and we noted all the ideas linked with museography. We will show you that with many photos....

# The Museum’s creation:

This museum was opened in 1993 by the German industrial Hans Imhoff.

After the Second World War, he owned an important chocolate and sugar factory. In 1972 he bought the chocolate company "Stollwerk" that became a European group immediately after the purchase of another factory.

So Hans Imhoff became very rich and decided to create a museum after the discovery that was made in 1975 : an important collection of old chocolate vending machines and other stuffs. He asked some help from a German historian to collect more items for his museum and then enriched his collection, and the museum could finally open in 1993.

Hans Imhoff died in 2001 and his wife is now the managing director.

About the architecture, they created a glass and aluminum futuristic building that they add ED to the old building in yellow stone.

Since 2006, the famous Swiss chocolate factory ‘Lindt’ is a partner of the museum and you can see how they made chocolate.

The Shokoladenmuseum is visited by 600,000 visitors a year, which places it among the first ten most visited museums in Germany.

The museum is divided into two sections, one on each floor.

On the ground floor, you have: the entry, the first part of the museum, the shop, public restroom and administrative rooms.

The first part of the museum is composed of rooms about chocolate in the economy, a tropicarium and the place of production of a little Lindt factory.

On the second flooryou can see the use and trade of chocolate among civilizations from the Aztecs until now. For example in the last part, you have some exhibition stands about famous other chocolate firms such as "Kinder", "Milka"....

So, come with us to discover this delicious museum.

# History of chocolate:

The museum isn’t organized chronologically. Indeed you begin on the ground floor by the chocolate trade.

Chocolate comes from the Theobroma cocoa tree that grows in South and Central America.

Cocoa was consumed by Olomecs a civilization that lived in the south of the actual Mexico around 1000 BC.

However, the name ‘kakaw’ comes from the Maya language. They used cocoa as a means to communicate with their gods.

In order to offer you a better understanding, we can compare the Mayan cacao with the Greek mead (=hydromel).

Mayas cultivated cocoa in important plantations and cocoa beans were used for medicine or as payment. It was mixed with many other spices in order to have a bitter taste, and not turned into a chocolate with milk as you can usually do for your breakfast.

 On the second floor of the museum, you have many objects of these civilizations. For example representations of gods, tumblers (gobelet)... So the museography is very classic, with no interactivity. The rooms are very dark with black walls and no artificial lighting. The objects are in glass cases.

Cocoa is one of the first foodstuffs which became a worldwide exchanged product since the discovery of America.

The first time Christopher Columbus received cocoa beans from Indians, he threw them to the sea because he believed they were goats’ droppings.

However, other conquistadors such as Cortes brought back to the Spanish king grinded chocolate. That’s how it became an aristocratic product.

They were used to drinking chocolate in luxury porcelain and silver services produced in Sèvres (France) and Meissen (Germany), the first porcelain manufacturers in Europe.

Hot chocolate wasn't just drunk for itself but rather used as a sauce for cakes.

During all the 19th century, chocolate became cheaper and cheaper thanks to two things:

- better transport (fewer offshore losses)

- an extension of the chocolate production in Africa

The Museum has an important chocolate vending machine collection, which shows us the important success of chocolate in the national trade of Germany.

The first chocolate machines were introduced in Germany by the Stollwerck company in 1887.

At the beginning, they were only used to produce some samples of a very high quality chocolate.

Because of the huge success they encountered, companies decided to produce it in series.

Each company has its own designs : box as a cathedral, with barometers...

An important factory was created: the German Vending Machine Association Stollwerck, for the maintenance and repair of those machines.

They had success during all the first part of 20th century, it led to the creation of by-products : enamel signs, posters and trading cards...

All this part of the museum like the one about American civilization has a very classic presentation. Porcelain and chocolate vending machines are put behind fences or windows and you can't touch them. 

However, you have a computer with a big screen where you can play some games such as: Find the real boat of transport of the chocolate in connection with its century.

# Chocolate production:

On the first and the second floors, you have an important part of the museum that shows the production of chocolate with all industrialized machines and workers that do their jobs in front of the public.

I think it's since 2006, when the Lindt factory was associated with the museum.

The first chocolate mechanic press was created by Coenraad Johannes van Houten in 1828. It consists on a hydraulic system with 24 horizontal pressure chambers. Cocoa is heated between 80 and 90°C with a big pressure (up to 900 bar) to have a kind of yellow cocoa butter and the rest, named "press cake", more solid.

Then, the second important step is the mixing in the good proportion of ingredients. For example, in order to make white chocolate, you need:

39 % of sugar

30 % of cocoa butter

30 % of milk powder

0,5 % of lecithin (fatty animal substance)

and 0,5 % of vanillin (aroma of vanilla)

All this mass is first pre-rolled to have a fineness of 15 to 20 thousandths of a millimeter. 

Your tongue must not be able to distinguish the different ingredients (in the produce).

To finish, youhave another roller to take off all the humidity of the mixing and to have a solid chocolate.

Chocolate production is very strict and obeys the law in most countries.

In Germany there has been an ordinance about cocoa and cocoa Products since 1975 which defines many things: terms to use, weight sizes, production methods, aromas , decorations, containers...

In 2000, the European Council regulated  "cocoa and chocolate products for human consumption" : it set the percentage of vegetal and animal butter in cocoa.

Cocoa is used for cosmetics too (creams and soaps). But it can be dangerous because many people are allergic to cacao. So the slightest presence of cocoa must be mentioned to avoid any accident.

Concerning the museography of this section of the museum; it's very funny and interactive.

You can see very well machines and presses that produce chocolate. Some people work there to control and put the little chocolate squares in their packaging. Some chocolates are exhibited and you see all the nice forms that they can have: the famous rabbit, Santa Claus (and even his wife), eggs... In a shop you can ask to have your own chocolate with many ingredients that they can add:  hazelnuts, almonds, small fruits, candy... On the ground floor you have a chocolate fountain and they give you a small biscuit which they dip into the fountain : it’s delicious!

# Chocolate today:

It's the most interactive and funny part of the museum. You begin with a room that explains to you the vegetable origin of cocoa.

In fact there are about 20 types of wild cocoa in middle and south America.

In 1753, it's the Swedish botanist Carl Von Linné that gave the name to the cocoa tree: "theobroma" which means in ancient Greek : food of the gods. This tree can live one hundred years and  be up to 20m high. It doesn't like so much the sun and gives more fruits when it is protected by other big trees. It needs temperatures between 25 and 28°C. You can pick the fruit of the cocoa tree directly from the branches. After, you open it  to take the pulp where you find cocoa beans. You can't use machines to  do that because this fruit is very fragile. But in some poor countries, they use young children because they can easily go on the top branches to pick up fruits. Now, all the main chocolate firms have signed conventions to forbid that.

You have another room which describes the main countries that produce cocoa. It's a very important economy that represents 3 billion dollars a year and more than 4 billion tons.

You have two types of producers:

- The big countries that have a real industry. 5 countries have more than 85% of the total production of cocoa in the world with in the order:

- the Ivory Coast with 35% of the world production

- Ghana

- Indonesia

- Nigeria

- Brazil

- other countries don't produce a lot but there cocoa beans have a particular taste and a very good reputation for example Tanzania, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago.

During the 20th century, chocolate became a big industry and is nowadays part of our way of life.

On the second floor of the museum, you have two rooms where all the main firms are represented:  the Italians with Ferrero, the Americans with Milka...

This room also reminds us all of our childhood with “kinder surprise”.

Concerning the museography, these two rooms are very interesting and interactive.

In the first one which deals with the cocoa tree, you have many games for children:

- some special yellow notice boards with a monkey give accessible information : simple language and placed at 1 meter high.

- a puzzle about cocoa trees

- many special sounds. For example you have the representation of Carl Von Linné and if you put your ear near him, he speaks to you. You also have sounds about nature, where theobroma trees grow.

- A lot of notice boards that you must manipulate to see what they say, such as a big chocolate bar where you have to open squares to have information.

- a tropicarium: To go inside, you must first walk through two successive doors to respect the special humidity of the place.

- In the rooms of the firms, you also have a video-game. The visitors have to sit down and stand up several times in order to lay a chocolate egg. The first one who succeeds in laying 10 eggs wins.

- many interactive screens to play at other games or have more information.

The chips museum in Bruges

The Frietmuseum in Bruges is a museum dedicated to potato fries.

With the Belgian chocolate, the Belgian potato fry is the most characteristic culinary product. Over the years, chips have become world wild known and Belgian are very proud of it.

The Frietmuseum in Bruges gives the answers to all many basic questions : Where does the potato come from, where was the fry invented ?

This educational museum is housed in the Saaihalle, one of the most beautiful building in Bruges. It explains the history of the potato and chips and the different ways of cooking.

On the ground floor you can learn about the potato history which originally took place in Peru more than 10,000 years ago. You also discover that thousands of different potatoes exist.

On the first floor, you can discover the history of the chips and how they came to Belgium.

 In the building basement, you can even try some.

Concerning the museography : it is very simple, not original. Nevertheless, the explanations are very good, on large and colourful panels.