A famous French chocolatier has prepared a giant chocolate Christmas tree in his laboratory near Paris. It will be used to raise funds for next week's "Telethon", a television charity event to support research into neuromuscular diseases.

Art or architecture? The ten-meter-high tree inside chocolatier Patrick Roger's chocolate factory in a Paris suburb, weighs 8-thousand pounds.

Patrick Roger, French Chocolatier, said, "To achieve this kind of architecture, we used a sort of alveolus inside to make the chocolate solid enough, because there is very strong vertical pressure."

The tree took Roger's team one month to craft. It will be a highlight at France's Telethon, a nationwide charity event to support research into neuromuscular diseases. It will be broadcast on French television on December the 3rd and 4th.

Participants will receive pieces of the tree in exchange for their donations.

Patrick Roger is one of France's most famous chocolatiers. He was named best French artisan-chocolatier in 2000, an award for professionals combining art and taste and proving to be worthy representatives of French gastronomy.

Roger's laboratory also features a wide range of other chocolate sculptures, including small Santas and reindeers.