Around the world in 80 coins
The exhibition of the Coin Cabinet Vienna portrays sixteen people from the course of history, or rather: it shows the contents of their wallets. Cleopatra and Marco Polo, El Greco, Ida Pfeiffer and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry tell us about their travels and discoveries and reveal coins that were in use in other parts of the world during their times.
Coins have always been an indispensable but often invisible travel companion. Like time travellers, they have often survived centuries, sometimes even millennia, without damage and are now considered historical documents that bear witness to past cultures. In a museum journey through space and time, visitors learn about the history of coins, wrapped in travel anecdotes that take them around the globe.
Since their ‘invention’ almost 1,700 years ago, they have not only been an essential element of the monetary system, but have also served as the first mass medium in our history, a means to carry images and inscriptions into distant lands. To read a coin appropriately is to see more than a small piece of metal. Closer viewing reveals that you are holding an entire country, its culture and its history, in your hand.
In a short exhibition video you will learn more about the history of the first Viennese elephant, which came to the European mainland in the service of diplomatic relations. In addition, tiny details and hidden mint marks are put under the microscope.
Visit the exhibition until January 28, 2024 and discover the diversity of these small works of art in the original!
Tours
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12
With Andrea Spinka
Start in each case at 5 p.m.
Duration: approx. 60 min.
Meeting place Vestibule
