Chocolala Chocolate Museum () is a specialty museum dedicated to the history of the Estonian chocolate industry. It is located in the Tallinn Old Town district near Freedom Square, Tallinn, Estonia.
History
The museum opened to the public on 1 June 2018. Its founder, Kristi Lehtis, is an established Estonian chocolate maker and chocolate art collector. The objective of the museum is to show and inform visitors about the history of the Estonian chocolate industry and traditions since 1806.
Building
The museum is located in a historical building bordering on Suur-Karja Street 20 / Pärnu Road 12. The Property was built in the years 1899–1900 by architects Rudolf von Engelhardt and Nikolai Thamm Junior for the Tallinn's German Club.
The premises are located around a courtyard, the main hall is located on Suur-Karja street. The building was remodeled in 1922, 1928 and 1938 according to plans by architect Edgar Johan Kuusik. By then, the building was housing Krediit Bank and the main Post Office. In the basement of the building, parallel to Pärnu maantee, there was a bowling alley.
Between 1913 and 1939, Paul Kroll's hairdressing company was located in the building.
Today, the building comprises business offices. Chocolala Chocolate Museum is located in the basement of the building that used to serve as the vault of a local bank.
Collections
The collections of the museum are categorized into boxes, wrappings, and molds for chocolate and marzipan. There are approximately 1,500 items, exposed in a 150 square meters dedicated space. Movies on Estonian chocolate making from the 1930s and 1950s are projected. The museum exposes also original art pieces from Estonian artists, such as a large chocolate sculpture inspired from a work by Simson von Seakyl, a dress made from chocolate wrappings, a wall painting of the Mayan God Quetzalcoatl and a cocoa tree.
Prepare your visit
Tallinn confectionery industry is over two centuries old. A guild of sugar bakers, making cakes, chocolate, marmalade and marzipan existed at the beginning of the 18 century. Marzipan particularly was made in Tallinn since the Middle Ages and was sold at the Town council pharmacy of Tallinn for pains of unrequited love and for stimulating mental activity.
19th Century
Lorenz Cawiezel, a sugar baker who had trained in Switzerland bought a house in Tallinn Pikk Street and established a confectionery shop there in 1806. The house stood at the place where the Café Maiasmokk is located now. In 1864, Georg Stude bought the property and extended it to the neighbouring building. The new chocolate and marzipan confectionery became known far and wide, even the Tsar's court in Saint Petersburg sent for these sweets.
The Golden Age (1900-1940)
The Golden Age of Estonian confectioners was the period of the Independent Republic of Estonia (1918–40). The local confectionery industry developed rapidly in the mid-1920s, although slowing down during the 1929 economic crisis (1929–33). It picked up quickly again beginning from 1934/35 because customs policies put into place at that time favored the local industry. Protective customs tariffs discouraged the import of manufactured sweets and at the same time, low tariffs were set for raw ingredients used in confectionery. Very quickly, Estonian confectionery producers became very competitive. About ten major confectioneries were active in Tallinn in the 1920s and the 1930s. Kawe, Ginovker, Brandmann and Klausson were the largest but the smaller businesses like G. Stude, Riola, Efekt, Endla, Eelis, Soliid and some others were worthy rivals to the big ones. In 1937, Kawe produced 1,416 tonnes of sweets, followed by Ginovker at 573 tonnes and Brandmann at 483 tonnes. The total production of the sweets industry was of more than 3,000 tonnes in 1937.