Chocolate Museum, Havana. Cuba

• ( 27 reviews)
• Amargura y Mercaderes, Old Havana, Havana City. Cuba
• Daily
• (537) 8664431
• Destination: Havana

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Residence of the Counts of Lagunilla.

Inspired in the Royal Museum of the Real Square in Brussels, Belgium, and born thanks to the support of Madame Jo Draps, its director, this singular place in Havana offers a tour through the history of cacao, its harvesting, production and commercialization.

In panels placed in the museum's rooms are exhibited texts with the history of the chocolate, from its discovery by the Spaniards in America, and its use by the native population before the colonization. It also has posters showing different times and famous foreign and Cuban industries and enterprises related to the chocolate.

The permanent exhibition presents a collection of china cups for chocolate, from the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy, examples of the variety of designs in this pieces in the 19th and 20th centuries. It is relevant a French bow cup, used by men to drink the delicious liquid without wetting their moustaches. Bakelite molds and containers for comfitures donated by the Royal Museum of the Real Square in Brussels, enriched this collection. It also holds simple ceramic chocolate cups, pots, containers and large English bowls found in archeological excavations in the Old Havana. They evidence the presence of this kind of articles in the domestic and religious environment of Havana in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The Chocolate Museum, inaugurated on November, 2003, is placed in the well known House of the Green Cross, former residence of the Counts of Lagunilla and starting point of the Saint Via Crucis procession.

Visitors can appreciate the techniques to manufacture candies, every Tuesday and Friday at 11:00 a.m, or taste the delicious drink prepared either in the traditional form or in the Aztecs way.

Chocolate Museum is located in Havana

Capital of Cuba and the country's administrative, political, cultural and scientific center, it is also the capital of two provinces: City of Havana and Havana. Though only around 280 square miles (727 square kilometers) in size-0.65 percent of the archipelago's total area.

The Old Havana and system of forts led UNESCO to declare it a part of world heritage in 1982. Founded on its present site in 1519, the settlement of San Cristobal de La Habana prospered mainly due to its bay, which was a natural port of call for ships sailing to and from the New World. Starting in 1634, because of its strategic location, San Cristobal de La Habana was considered the key to the New World-as attested to by royal letters patent-and the main defense of the West Indies.

The Cuban capital consists of an immense number of buildings in a wide range of architectural styles, built in the course of nearly five centuries. These styles range from the pre-baroque to the baroque, neo-Gothic, neoclassical, eclectic, art noveau and art-deco, to the modern.

Alejo Carpentier, one of Cuba's most famous authors, called it "the city of columns" and focused attention on its streets, which he considered a perennially rich show of life, humanity and contrasts that was bound to entertain any observer.

Over 14 kilometers of excellent beaches lie to the east of the Cuban capital. To the south, a green belt contributes to a healthful atmosphere.

Review about Museums: Chocolate Museum