It was the dream of Ángel Velasco father and it has been fulfilled by Ángel Velasco son, one year after his great teacher and inspirer left this world on September 10, 2022, a few hours after he opened the new Torrons Vicens store in la Rambla, near Santa Anna. The entrepreneur who had revolutionized the Christmas sweet to deseasonalize it, sell it around the world in new formats and incorporate the creativity of great chefs to launch new flavors and textures without abandoning the traditional varieties imagined that one day he would create a museum with his son dedicated to Agramunt nougat and its stone chocolate. An exhibition space, on the ground floor of the huge premises on the main Barcelona artery (shortly after opening it was closed for a while due to a permit issue), where the public of the city and tourists would come. To everyone, young and old, he wanted to show them in a fun and didactic way the history and the artisanal process of making the nougat and chocolate in the stone of Agramunt that had captivated him when he first acquired a company nougat during low hours and then the oldest stone chocolate factory.
Finally, the Museum of Torró and Chocolate in Barcelona was inaugurated yesterday in an event organized by the owner of Torrons Vicens, Àngel Velasco. And on Friday, barely a month before Christmas dinner, it opens its doors. Tickets, which include nougat and melted chocolate tasting at the end of the tour, can be purchased online for 10 euros for local adults, 12 for tourists, and free for children under 12. The visits are carried out in groups of 25 people, at the moment, with seven sessions spread throughout the day.
The exhibition space, with an investment of one million euros, consists of a walk through history, set in the different eras, and the process of making the traditional nougat and chocolate in the stone of Agramunt.
Grup Transversal, experts in this kind of museisation, took care of the production, installation and execution, who in this case played with audiovisual animations, mapping, explanatory panels, holograms and an immersive room. For approximately half an hour, the origins of chocolate are explored and progress is made in its history and production process, to focus on the unique modality of chocolate a la pedra, which is still made in Agramunt, and where Xocolates Jolonch (company that acquired Torrons Vicens, of which it maintained the team, facilities and process) has been producing it since the end of the 18th century.
Then you move on to an immersive room where nougats are made by characters dressed in period costumes who, in reality, are part of the team of the nougat company. The tour goes from the beginning of this sweet sector to the most innovative additions, including Albert Adrià’s line of flavors and textures, as well as the collaboration of José Andrés.
The new museum is in the 19th century building that once occupied the Banca Marsans, with a facade that has been completely rehabilitated to restore the original external visibility and transparency. In the central part of the store, of 300 m2, there are stairs that lead to the new museum, with an area of ??almost 400 m2 distributed in the various rooms that make up the historical route, in which the visitor will not only enter a period setting, but you will perceive the aromas of nougat and chocolate, before tasting them as the dessert of the experience.
