Lindt Home of Chocolate
Museum, Visitor Center in Kilchberg, Switzerland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Lindt Home of Chocolate is a chocolate museum, research center, and visitor attraction located in Kilchberg, in the canton of Zurich, Switzerland, adjacent to the headquarters of Lindt & Sprüngli. Opened in 2020, the building was developed by the Lindt Chocolate Competence Foundation and designed by the Swiss architecture firm Christ & Gantenbein. It is visited by around 800,000 people per year.[1]
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| Lindt Home of Chocolate | |
|---|---|
The chocolate fountain in the building's lobby | |
 Interactive map of the Lindt Home of Chocolate area | |
General information | |
| Type | Museum, Visitor Center |
Architectural style | Modern |
| Location | Kilchberg, Switzerland, Seestrasse 204, 8802 Kilchberg |
Construction started | 2017 |
| Completed | 2020 |
| Opening | September 2020 |
| Cost | CHF 100 million |
| Client | Lindt Chocolate Competence Foundation |
| Owner | Lindt & Sprüngli |
| Design and construction | |
Architecture firm | Christ & Gantenbein |
| Website | |
| Official website | |
Architecture
The Lindt Home of Chocolate was designed as a monumental yet minimalist structure inspired by industrial forms. The museum is centred on a naturally-lit atrium measuring 64 meters in length, 15 meters high, and 13 meters wide, supported by mushroom-shaped concrete columns. It features spiral staircases and a nine-meter-tall free-standing chocolate fountain, the largest of its kind in the world.[2][3]
Over 3,000 m² of Statuario Altissimo porcelain stoneware slabs by the Italian ceramics company Ariostea were used in the museum's interior. The design of these were inspired by Carrara marble.[4]
Exhibitions and features
The museum covers the history of chocolate, from its Mesoamerican origins to the rise of Swiss chocolate-making. Some of the exhibits are interactive and contain digital elements. Other features include:
- A free-standing chocolate fountain, the world's largest
- A 500 m² Lindt retail store
- A Lindt Café
- Chocolate-making workshops, including some that cater specifically to children
- Guided tours
- Tastings
- A chocolate research and development center.[5]
Visitor statistics
In 2024, the museum hosted 817,163 visitors and ran 1,900 guided tours, including approximately 300 school classes.[1]
Visitors primarily come from countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and India.
Cultural impact
Architects Emanuel Christ and Christoph Gantenbein describe the project as a balance of classical grandeur and industrial production, with a goal of creating "an exaggeration of industrial production with a certain tension."[6]
Transport
Bus route 163 links the museum with Kilchberg railway station, which is a stop on the Zurich S-Bahn network. Another bus line, 165, links it with Zurich, Bürkliplatz.[7]