This November, Croatia is also on the sweet chocolate map. At the end of November, on 25 November to be precise, a real chocolate museum opened in the Croatian capital. A visit to this chocolate kingdom is a must for all true chocoholics.

A brief description of the museum

The Chocolate Museum in Zagreb is a theme park dedicated to chocolate and its historical, geographical and cultural significance. The museum will take visitors on an interactive journey through time and space, involving all the senses - sight, smell, touch, sound and, of course, taste. In the gift shop, you will be able to indulge in a variety of handmade chocolates from renowned Croatian chocolatiers, as the museum strives to bring together true chocolate lovers with the creators of this intoxicating delicacy.

Basic information about the museum:

• Where is the museum located? Varšavska ulica 5, Zagreb
• What are the opening hours? It is open every day, Monday to Sunday, between 10am and 10pm.

Ticket price?

• Adults: 60 HRK (around 8 EUR);
• Children (4-18 years): 40 HRK (around 5,50 EUR);
• Children (up to 4 years): free entry;
• Family ticket (includes two adults and three children): HRK 180 (around EUR 24);
• Group tickets (more than 25 persons): HRK 55 adults, HRK 35 children.

Chocolate in Croatia

Croatia has a rich history in the chocolate industry, from the first chocolate factory opened in Rijeka at the end of the 19th century to Mikada, the world''s first rice chocolate. Croatia has some very good chocolate producers and the best Croatian restaurants and patisseries pay a lot of attention to top quality chocolate. Nevertheless, the chocolate industry is practically invisible in Croatian gastronomy.

"We came up with this idea because, like most people, we are chocolate lovers."
RužicaCerovac

The opening of the first chocolate museum, an idea that came from Ružica Božić Cerovac and her husband, could take chocolate gastronomy to the next level. The Cerovac family has no professional ties to gastronomy, as Mr Cerovac is the director of a successful Croatian construction company. Mrs Ružica said: "We came up with this idea because, like most people, we are chocolate lovers. My family and I have visited many chocolate museums in Europe and we have often been disappointed with the approach to this interesting food, as it definitely deserves more attention. So we came up with the idea of introducing chocolate to the public in a slightly different way, through the history and evolution of chocolate."

A key factor in the decision to open the museum was a visit to the Chocolate Museum in Prague and workshops attended by Sanja Vladović and Steve Kahline, founder of the Taman brand. "Sanja and Steve opened up the world of chocolate to us." The result of this collaboration and the work of hundreds of people who worked on the project is a small but remarkably designed museum that will occasionally remind you of Wes Anderson''s Grand Budapest Hotel.

Chocolate Museum Zagreb

The museum is organised chronologically, with brightly decorated halls detailing everything from the earliest known evidence of chocolate consumption in Central and South America, through the Great Industrial Revolution, the history of chocolate production in Croatia, to the contemporary chocolate scene and its complex sociology.

The Chocolate Museum also has a well-equipped laboratory and a tasting room for about 20 people. At the entrance, guests are given a tasting kit containing fried cocoa beans, samples of dark, milk, white and ruby chocolate, and a spoon for tasting chocolate liqueur, different types of chocolate, from chocolate flowing from the dispensers to chocolate fountains, which are spread throughout the museum.

Ružica and Domagoj Cerovac have been collecting exhibits and souvenirs for years. From ancient chocolate grinding mills, the first porcelain cups in which chocolate as a beverage spread from South America to Europe, to jubilee chocolates from the weddings of British kings and old industrial moulds. All are displayed in rooms that explain important milestones in the history of chocolate.

"The most important thing to understand about chocolate is that it is a very young industry. Chocolate as a product as we know it has been around for just over a hundred years." says Steve Kahlina. "It is only in the last fifteen or twenty years that we have started to discover key facts about cocoa, fermentation and the possibilities of chocolate. Chocolate as a product and an industry is still in such an early stage of development that we don''t really know what else we will discover and how its definition will change in the future. It is important to bring the excitement of this discovery and research to the Chocolate Museum. "

Zagreb''s Chocolate Museum has opened just in time for the ideal pre-New Year period, so it will undoubtedly be one of the main attractions of Advent. The museum is very thoughtfully designed, but still simple and fun enough for children and with enough content for people who want to learn more about chocolate. In the museum shop you can buy chocolates from the best Croatian chocolatiers in one place.

Culled from: https://plavakamenica.hr/2019/11/20/u-zagrebu-se-25-studenog-otvara-muzej-cokolade-posjetili-smo-ga/