Musée "Les secrets du chocolat", Chocolate museum in Geispolsheim, France

Musée "Les secrets du chocolat" is a chocolate museum in Geispolsheim entered through a small courtyard whose storefronts copy the Paris style of the Marquise de Sévigné's day. Inside, arrows lead visitors through themed areas: an amphitheatre showing a short film on cocoa, an exhibition hall on chocolate-making history, a demonstration workshop, a tearoom and a shop. Chocolate figurines, including Santa Clauses and a hooded figure, stand on wire racks.

The museum opened as part of the Route du Chocolat, a chocolate trail created in Alsace in May 2007. Its exhibits follow cocoa from Latin American sources through the legend of the feathered serpent that stole beans from the gods' garden, then show the machines that industrialised chocolate making. A section covers the Marquise de Sévigné brand, founded in 1898, and its collaborations with designers Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, André Courrèges and Anne Rosat.

Professional chocolatiers demonstrate their craft during live sessions, showing how they shape pralines, ganaches, and other French chocolate specialties by hand. You can watch them work at their tables and understand the skill involved in creating each piece.

The site is best visited in the morning hours when fewer visitors are present and you have more time to watch the artisans at work. The exhibition areas are clearly marked, so you can easily navigate and move through the different production stages.

The museum opened as part of Alsace's Route du Chocolat, created in May 2007. In a 2009 Reuters ranking it placed second among the world's ten best chocolate museums. The brand behind it, La Marquise de Sévigné, was founded in 1898 and has collaborated with designers such as Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, André Courrèges and Anne Rosat on packaging.