Two Faces of Money – Money and Medals in the History of Slovakia
A permanent numismatic and historic exhibition at five floors of the reconstructed Gothic burgher's house was opened for public in May 2003.
1970 meant the "end of history" of the Kremnica mining industry that spanned more than 1,000 years into the past. Its noble, but extinct fame is sketched in the exhibition on two underground floors. In unique underground rooms carved directly into the rock, different types of gallery sheeting, tools and equipment used during mining works are depicted. The mining and metallurgical exhibition in the upper parts of underground floors depicts basic attributes of the mining industry and surface working of ore, up to obtaining a grain of pure gold. The collection of minerals is also fascinating.
The spacious, vaulted hall on the ground-floor houses the exhibition of the Kremnica history and the museum itself. The emphasis is laid primarily upon Kremnica crafts that formed the third most important industry in the history of the city, apart from the mining and mint industry. Visits of emperors prove the prestigious position of Kremnica in comparison with other Slovak cities. Relics and souvenirs from these visits are located in an architecturally interesting room.
The first floor offers the visitors the rare possibility to familiarise themselves with the history of money used in the territory of Slovakia, from the very beginning of time up to the present day, with the emphasis on coins minted in the Kremnica mint.
At the beginning of the exposition, visitors see various types of pre-coin means of payment and the first metal money that was used in Slovakia, minted by Celts in the 1st century BC. Samples of Roman, Byzantine and West-European coins that circulated in the territory of Slovakia from the 1st century up to the period of the Great Moravian Empire, proves rich trade, political and cultural contacts with close and distant neighbours. Later, the territory of Slovakia became part of the Hungarian Kingdom. This period is documented by many sets of coins, e.g. small denariuses and obols, high-quality silver groschen and world-famous Kremnica ducats.
The turn of the 15th and 16th century brought about the minting of famous Kremnica guldiners that foreshadowed the start of modern coinage - thaler, conventional, federal and crown currency system. In Hungary, the history of paper money started in 1762. The exposition familiarizes visitor with inflation money from Napoleonic wars, money of rebels of the 1948-49 uprising in Hungary, bank notes from the Austria-Hungarian bank, first Czechoslovak bank notes and coins etc. The recent history skid means of payment of the post-period of 1948. At the end, the visitor will be reminded of the circumstances around the origin of Slovak money in 1993 - stamping of Czechoslovak bank notes and designs as late as the present shape of the Slovak crown.
Exposition of trial embossing, embossing tools, including embossing techniques from the Middle Ages to the present day belongs to one of the most interesting attractions of the exhibition.
The attic on the second floor houses the exposition of the medal-making history in Slovakia - from the first Hungarian medal throughout valuable Renaissance and Baroque works up to medals in the 19th and 20th century. An important role in the process of formation and expansion of the medal-making industry in Slovakia belongs to the Kremnica mint. Not even medals made on international symposiums, regularly arranged and hold by the museum from 1983 are missing. The demonstration of the minting and casting procedure, and the creation of the atmosphere in an engraving studio is also worth seeing. The visit is enhanced by the fact that, except for their artistic quality, the medals also have an important historic value.
Averse and Reverse of Money - Standing E xposition of the Museum of Coins and Medals in Kremnica