Press release

Cologne Chocolate Museum with new exhibition

A journey through 5,000 years of cocoa history

Cologne, May 2025 – The Cologne Chocolate Museum continues its success story: with over 705,000 guests in 2024, a new visitor record was set. Now the popular interactive museum is setting new standards once again – with its comprehensively revamped permanent cultural history exhibition "Time Travel of Cocoa."

The new exhibition takes museum guests on a fascinating journey of discovery through over 5,000 years of cocoa history – from its beginnings in Ecuador to modern chocolate production. On the way from drink to sweet promise, cocoa can be experienced not only as a "Genussmittel", but also as a cultural and economic asset of global significance.

Told in a multimedia, sensory, and critical way, the journey through time begins with the ancient American cultures of Central America, where cocoa was used as a drink, currency, and offering. The journey continues through the colonial era, when exploitation and forced labor on cocoa plantations wrote dark chapters in history. The exhibition does not shy away from these perspectives, but invites reflection.

In the courtly world of Europe, cocoa became a luxury good – served in porcelain and silver, enjoyed by queens and aristocrats. Guests learn how chocolate found its way into European culture as a medicine, status symbol, and fashion phenomenon.

With industrialization, the picture changed: machines, brands, and mass production made chocolate accessible to everyone. The triumph of chocolate bars began – accompanied by advertising strategies, vending machines, and new target groups. Particularly impressive was the change in the role of women, not only as consumers but also as workers – such as the famous "Stollwerck girls."

Accompanied by over a hundred historical exhibits and modern exhibition design, "Zeitreise des Kakaos" (Time Travel of Cocoa) is an experience for all the senses – informative, moving, and up-to-date.

The museum itself has been completely renovated since 2018. Highlights such as the glass chocolate factory, where guests can watch chocolate being made live and meet the maître chocolatier, or the immersive experience "Chocolate is a feeling" make a visit to the museum unique.

The legendary chocolate fountain remains a special crowd-puller, continuing to fulfill sweet dreams on its golden plateau.

The Cologne Chocolate Museum combines history with the present, enjoyment with responsibility, emotion with information – and invites guests of all ages to rediscover chocolate.

Come and experience the magic of cocoa – at the Cologne Chocolate Museum.

Visit the "Time Travel of Cocoa" exhibition at the Cologne Chocolate Museum – and embark on a delightful journey through the millennia.

All information, opening hours, and tickets can be found at: www.schokoladenmuseum.de

Press contact:
Klaus H. Schopen
Marketing & Communication
schopen@schokoladenmuseum.de
0221 / 931 888-13