Sugar and Chocolate Arts Museum, Art museum and chocolaterie in Cordes-sur-Ciel, France
The Musée des Arts du Sucre et du Chocolat is an art museum and chocolate workshop at the top of the medieval hilltop village of Cordes-sur-Ciel, housed in a 13th-century Gothic bastide listed as a historic monument. Its rooms display sugar and chocolate sculptures alongside old tools and objects related to sweet-making.
The building dates to the 13th century and was originally part of the Gothic fortifications of Cordes-sur-Ciel. In 1989, pastry chef Yves Thuriès opened his workshop and museum here, turning the old stone walls into a space dedicated to the art of sweets.
The museum was founded in 1989 by Yves Thuriès, a pastry chef from the Tarn region who earned the title "Meilleur Ouvrier de France" twice, in two different disciplines. His sugar and chocolate creations often draw on themes from the Middle Ages, mythology, or nature, which visitors can see displayed throughout the rooms.
The museum sits at the very top of Cordes-sur-Ciel, reachable by car or by the small town train that runs in season, which saves the steep climb. Those who want to join a workshop or visit as a group should book ahead by phone or email.
The sugar sculptures on display are not simple decorations but works made by award-winning craftspeople who competed at a national level. Some pieces show such fine detail that up close they look more like carvings in stone or wood than objects made from something edible.
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