Living Gingerbread Museum in Torun

The Living Gingerbread Museum is definitely one of Toruń’s most interesting attractions. Whether you like gingerbread or not, we recommend you to visit this unusual museum. Because in addition to the secrets of baking the symbol of Toruń, you will learn a lot about the city itself and its history.

The Living Gingerbread Museum… Alive! This is not a typical museum where we have exhibits, showcases, descriptions, where you go from room to room and read for yourself about the history of gingerbread, the old production process and changes in technology. Here we take part in workshops – we learn about the ingredients of traditional Toronto gingerbread, take part in an “exam”, and finally try our hand at preparing the sweet.

However, we have to admit that initially we were not so enthusiastic about the place. A lot of people recommended it to us, it has great reviews on the Internet (in 2020 it was awarded the Golden Pin of Google Maps), but still we were worried whether this form of attraction would work in our case, especially in terms of quite lively children ;) Because, after all, you don’t quite know whether rolling will absorb the children, whether they will sit through the workshop, or whether they will eagerly listen to the history of gingerbread. Especially since we were in Poznan about six months ago, at the Rogal Museum, and although the whole thing was great, our son was not convinced by such attractions.

However, as we know there is nothing permanent with children, so we decided to see if a gingerbread workshop would be of more interest than the horned, Poznań-based ones.

Living Gingerbread Museum or Museum of Toruń Gingerbread ?

But before about the Living Gingerbread Museum, here’s an important piece of information about…. another museum in Torun. Well, there are two seemingly similar places to get confused: the Living Gingerbread Museum and the Museum of Torun Baking.

These are two completely different facilities, located in different places. The Living Gingerbread Museum is located at 9 Rabianska Street, and the Museum of Torun Gingerbread is at 4 Strumykowa Street. They are separated by about 550 meters, to walk in less than 10 minutes. And we are writing about this because we know that many people confuse the two places. We ourselves have witnessed visitors approaching the ticket office with tickets to another facility and having to quickly rush to another.

This is what the building of the Living Gingerbread Museum in Torun looks like:

So check exactly where you want to go before you buy your tickets :) In a nutshell: The Living Gingerbread Museum is a workshop combined with a great show by the presenters, and the Museum of Torun’s Gingerbread is a more typical museum with halls to visit (workshops are also held here, but are not a leading part).

Tour of the Living Gingerbread Museum

It’s hard to talk about a typical tour here, although after the workshop there is also a section showing old equipment and tools.

Here the most important part is the workshops, which are held in large groups, and entry is only possible at full hours. As with the House of Legends of Torun, we encourage you to purchase tickets online in advance, as there may not be any more seats available at the venue.

When the full hour strikes, the group is invited by the presenter to the room with the workshop. And here it is necessary to immediately lean on the work and commitment of the museum staff. The people running the show (called the Gingerbread Master and the Root Witch) are great actors, fantastically playing the roles of 14th or 15th century Torun residents. They are able to get even the most stiff company moving, reaching both adults and children at the same time.

The workshop part is initially an introduction, followed by a discussion of gingerbread ingredients interspersed with various interesting and fun stories (this is how history should be taught in schools!). We learned where the name gingerbread came from, that the ginger we use in cooking is not a root at all, and how valuable pepper used to be.

After this part there is an “exam” and participants proceed to prepare their own gingerbread. In the spacious room, large wooden tables sprinkled with flour await, with rollers, wooden molds and knives. There are tables for the smallest participants to reach the table :) Everyone gets a ball of dough, which they will transform into shapes. Which will be immediately put in the oven.

While the gingerbread is baking there is a moment to explore the space full of paintings (including, for example, a spice map) or store in the store.

Once everyone has received their own handmade gingerbread one might think that this is the end, but nothing could be further from the truth. A room with gingerbread houses awaits on the floor above, as well as a display of equipment and machinery that used to prepare gingerbread in the manufactory. Here, too, everything is discussed and shown by the animator, so there is definitely no boredom, instead there is a lot of laughter.

There is also a gingerbread store on the second floor.

After this part, you can take part in a gingerbread decorating workshop (additional fee).

Practical information

Who is the Living Gingerbread Museum in Torun for?

Definitely not an attraction just for kids! Participating in the show and baking gingerbread will be great entertainment for both adults and toddlers, seniors, students come here, and companies can organize such a show for employees.

The museum has a fee for children ages 3 and up, so one would assume that this is the limit from which a child will already get involved, but in our opinion, 2-year-olds will also have a fun time here (especially on the gingerbread preparation, as the demonstration part can be a challenge).

Adaptation of the facility

Unfortunately, the entrance to the facility is not adapted for people in wheelchairs or with baby carriages, but a card hangs just inside the door stating that if assistance is needed in this regard, just call. We don’t know how it works, because we just brought the cart ourselves.

First you have to climb a few steps into the building, and then the already larger stairs to the second floor to the workshop room, and then to the next floor (we left the stroller on the second floor).

Opening hours of the Live Gingerbread Museum

The Living Gingerbread Museum is open daily from 10 am to 6 pm, with the last entrance at 5 pm.

The shows last about 75 minutes.

Ticket prices Living Gingerbread Museum

Tickets can be purchased at the box office (opens 15 minutes before the show) or online at the booking site. As mentioned above, the popularity of the place means that seating limits are quickly exhausted: we were at 11, and the screen showed that there was only one free seat left for the whole day.

Prices are as follows:

• Normal ticket – 29 zloty,
• Discounted ticket – 24 zlotys,
• Children under 3 years of age enter for free.

Getting to the Living Gingerbread Museum

The Living Gingerbread Museum is located in a brick building, at 9 Rabianska Street in Torun.

You can leave your car in one of the paid parking lots outside the Old Town or park on nearby streets (depending on the parking zone, it is a minimum of PLN 1.50 per hour).

Exact address:
Living Gingerbread Museum
Street. Rabiańska 9
87-100 Torun

Accommodation in Torun

There’s a wide range of accommodations in Torun, so whether you’re looking for a hotel with breakfast or an apartment with a kitchen, you’re sure to find something suitable.

We stayed at the Mercure Hotel – it is an older facility, but of a good standard with a tasty breakfast. Its biggest advantage is its location – it is close to the Old Town (about 10 minutes on foot).

Here are some suggestions for accommodations with address, prices and link:

• Hotel Mercure Torun Centre
  Address: ul. Kraszewskiego 1/3, 87-100 Toruń
  Prices: from 200 PLN for a double room
  Link:
  http://r4b.link/mercureheliostorun
  
• B&B Hotel Torun
  Address: Szumana 8, Old Town, 87-100 Toruń
  Prices: from 164 PLN for a double room
  Link:
  http://r4b.link/b-b-torun
  
• Bread and Wine Apartments Torun
  Address: Rynek Staromiejski 22, Old Town, 87-100 Toruń
  Prices: from 460 PLN for a double room
  Link:
  http://r4b.link/apartamenty-torun
  

Our opinion about the Live Gingerbread Museum in Torun

If we had to name just one place to visit in Torun, it would be the museum. In a very attractive and engaging way, we will feel as if we were in old Torun, when the dough was imprinted on wooden molds, baked in traditional ovens, and we will look at the city from a slightly different perspective.

The interiors have a very cool atmosphere, they are well suited for shows and workshops, but the biggest job is done by animators, thanks to whom a visit to the Living Gingerbread Museum will be remembered for a long time.