For love of sweets

In its quest for the unusual museums of Vienna, wieninternational.at stumbled on a paradise for chocolate lovers: the first Vienna Chocolate Museum gives its visitors an insight into the production of pralines, confectionery, etc., and pampers them with sweet specialities.

As she receives a group of chocolate lovers at the Chocolate Museum, the student Carmen Hiertz takes the edge off their appetites with a small taste of what is to come. Refreshed by their chocolate bananas, our visitors pass into a “film theatre”, where a short film tells the story of the tradition-steeped Vienna firm of Heindl, and describes the way in which mouth-watering chocolate creations are produced.

The chocolate side of Vienna

The firm of Confiserie Heindl was founded in Vienna in the year 1953. This was when Walter Heindl Senior and his wife Maria first started making liqueur pralines and confectionery. A product that sweetened customers’ everyday lives from the word go has since become a legendary Viennese classic. In 1967 the Heindl company relocated to the 23rd district of Vienna, where the Chocolate Museum also opened its doors in the year 2001. The 5,200 m² factory processes some 450 tonnes of chocolate a year to made specialities such as Sissi Talers, Nussbeugel, Mozartkugeln and Wiener Trüffel. There is (at least) one creation to suit every taste. Andreas und Walter Heindl, the current owners of the business, know exactly from experience how to delight the Viennese palate: “The Viennese love to eat pralines with creamy, semi-liquid fillings." Liqueurs play an important role here. 

From cocoa tree to chocolate sculpture

After the video presentation, the group moves on to the actual museum, where all manner of questions relating to the production of chocolate and the different varieties of chocolate are answered. We are received in the museum hall under a cocoa tree. Although the Heindl company only produces confectionery from readymade chocolate, visitors also learn how the bitter cocoa seed is processed into sweet chocolate. The eye-catching feature of the museum is a life-sized figure of Sisi with traditional Viennese confectionery arranged around her – a huge chocolate fountain. Although we would just love to dip into the pale brown stream of chocolate flowing down, we are prevented from doing so by a barrier. Amongst the chocolate sculptures on display since the EURO 2008™, there is also a giant football modelled from 160 kilograms of chocolate. In order to prevent this sweet construction material from melting, the temperature in the museum is always kept cool.  

 

Enjoyment from the production line

It is a bit warmer on the next floor up, where chocolate production is in full swing. Tours of the museum are also available when the production line is at a standstill, but the factory’s high season is obviously before Easter and Christmas. This is when all the machines on the 5,000 m² production floor are in operation, and visitors can watch all the production processes closely. Only a sheet of glass now separates us from all the sweet delights being packaged by hand at the end of the line. The crowning moment for our visitors to the museum comes when they are served several freshly handmade chocolate specialities.