Museo Casa de Moneda Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids
Museo Casa de Moneda
Street view of the museum
Established	July 20, 1961; 63 years ago (July 20, 1961)
Location	Calle 11 # 4-93 Bogotá
Type	Numismatics
Public transit access	Museo del Oro station

The Museo Casa de Moneda (which means Mint Museum in Spanish) is a cool museum in the La Candelaria neighborhood of Bogotá, Colombia. It's all about money! This museum shows off a huge collection of items related to money.

The Bank of the Republic of Colombia manages the museum. They have about 18,600 objects in their collection. These include old coins, banknotes (paper money), medals, and even tools used for printing money. You can see items from different times and places around the world.

The museum is in the very same building that used to be a main mint. A mint is a place where coins are made. This building made coins for the New Kingdom of Granada, New Granada, and modern-day Colombia. It was a mint from 1621 all the way until 1987! After that, coin making moved to a new place called the Fábrica de Moneda in Ibagué.

The Museo Casa de Moneda is part of a bigger group called the Banrepcultural Network. Other famous places in this network in Bogotá include the Botero Museum, the Gold Museum, and the Luis Ángel Arango Library.

A Look Back: The Museum's History
What You Can See: The Museum's Collection
Gallery
See also

A Look Back: The Museum's History

A 1630 gold coin (Double escudo) from the museum's collection.

The museum stands on a very historic spot. This is where the New Kingdom of Granada set up its first mint. This happened because Philip III of Spain ordered it. The mint was officially started in 1621 by a Spanish engineer named Alonso Turrillo de Yebra.

On July 20, 1961, the Bank of the Republic opened the doors of the Numismatic Museum. "Numismatic" means related to coins and currency. The goal was to show the history of Colombian money, from the time it was a Spanish colony to when it became a republic.

When it first opened, the museum had 1,032 pieces. This included 400 special gold coins called "Santa Fereña macuquinas." These coins were made between 1628 and 1636. They were found in the Magdalena River and are known as the "Tesoro del mesuno" (Mesuno Treasure).

Because of its important history, the building was declared a National Treasure on July 11, 1975. This was done by the Colombian Institute of Culture, which is now the Ministry of Culture.

In 1982, a new coin factory, the Fábrica de Moneda, was built in Ibagué. Coin production eventually moved there. So, the old Casa de Moneda stopped making coins in 1987.

The Museo Casa de Moneda reopened to the public on July 23, 2023. This was a special event to celebrate the Bank of the Republic's 100th birthday. The museum now has a brand new permanent exhibition for visitors to enjoy.

What You Can See: The Museum's Collection

Old machines used to make banknotes and coins.

The Museo Casa de Moneda doesn't have its own permanent collection. Instead, it's used by the Banco de la República to show off its amazing numismatic collection. They also display some art and ancient artifacts from the Gold Museum. These items all help tell the story of money and its history.

After its latest update in August 2023, the Museo Casa de Moneda has 11 different exhibitions.

Early Money and Mints

The first exhibition is called Casa de Moneda Santafé. It tells the story of the first mints in the Spanish empire in the New World. The museum itself is inside the Santafé de Bogotá Mint building. Philip III of Spain started this mint in 1620. Its job was to make gold and silver coins for the New Kingdom of Granada.

The second exhibition is History of Currency. Here, you can see many different kinds of "money" from long ago. This includes cacao seeds and shell money. You can also see barley that was used as money by the Akitu people. It even shows examples of commodity money, like cigarettes that were used as money in prisons.

Money in the New Kingdom of Granada

The third and fourth exhibitions focus on the history of money in Spanish America. They specifically look at the New Kingdom of Granada. You can see coins from the Spanish Empire made with silver from a famous mountain called Cerro Rico in Potosí. There are also gold coins made from gold found in colonial Antioquia and Chocó.

The fifth exhibit is called Independence. It covers the history of money during the time of the Spanish American wars of independence. It also shows money from the First Republic of New Granada.

How Money is Made

The sixth exhibition, How are Coins Made?, shows how coins have been produced over time.

First, you'll see the old-fashioned way of making "macuquinas" coins by hand.
Then, you'll learn about the mechanical process for making "cord" coins.
Finally, you'll see how modern coins are made using industrial machines.

Similarly, the eighth exhibition, How are Banknotes Made?, explains the history of making paper money. It highlights three important periods in Colombia's history.

Modern Money and Art

Exhibitions seven, nine, ten, and eleven cover the history of money in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. There's also a special exhibition that explores how money and coins are shown in art.