Electronic Googol river representing eternity - in the Money Museum

“I hope this modern Museum will be actively visited by schoolchildren and students. They will find out more about money, will probably reflect on it and will be willing to learn how to handle it. I believe this Museum to be an attractive place which, with its knowledge and ideas, can enrich teachers, lecturers, young scientists writing theses, writers of historical books, journalists?Everybody will find it interesting! For the Money Museum we set an important task of developing the public’s economic education, cherishing the historical and cultural heritage”- noted Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania Reinoldijus Sarkinas. 

He noted having visited the central bank museums of more than one country and today we can rejoice at the Money Museum of the Bank of Lithuania in terms of the content of its exposition, the modern facilities used to present it.    

The Money Museum’s exposition occupies an area of over 300 sq m in five halls introducing visitors to the history of world money and banking, Lithuanian money, development of banking in our country since the emergence of the first credit institutions to the present day. 

In the cavity which bears likeliness to a river meander installed in the floor of the History of Money Hall, an artistic installation, Googol has been created. By installing 101 neon lamps under glass the author wanted to demonstrate the magnitude of the Googol figure (1 with 100 zeros) and at the same time to give a sense to the exposition’s key object, money. 

“The thousands of years history of money has witnessed a wealth of its shapes, sizes and production techniques. To illustrate the permanent development and stock of money, the author used the image of the river and of the figure. Like water is indispensable for life, money in all times was the driver of domestic and national economy, the basis of material well-being,” Manager of the Money Museum Vidmantas Laurinavicius said. He is the author of the Money Museum’s conception.

Vidmantas Laurinavicius pointed out that it is an interactive museum not only adapted to passively viewing the exposition but to one’s active participation in the cognitive process as well. By virtue of the interactive training facilities observer becomes participant who can strike a souvenir plate on his/her own, use a special scale to weigh him/her, and find out his/her price if he/she were of gold, platinum or silver. And this is far from all the Museum offers. Virtual expositions, thematic films, games, specialised internet access - all this is available on the computer terminals with touch screens.   

In the improvised Mint visitors will see a silicon mannequin of a coiner in a typical to him 15^th-16^th century outfit and will learn about the development of coinage techniques - from the tools used in the recreated primitive 15^th century mint, the screw press of later times to the footage of the production of contemporary coins using modern coinage devices.     

Sculptor Leonas Piviriunas decorated the Museum’s staircase with an artistic composition, “Architectural Exposure” made of disintegrated former national currencies of the European Union Member States used before the introduction of the single currency, euro. The long unused abacuses of different shapes, former witnesses to banking and other monetary operations, merged organically with the artistic creation and the surrounding environment.

In the 19^th century safe next to it the visitor will also find a souvenir - disintegrated litas banknotes that no longer fitted for circulation.

World money exhibited in the Contemporary Money Hall introduces the visitors to the banknotes and coins used in different countries. The visitor can have a view of the banknotes placed in special drawers by pulling out the drawer with the name of a selected country or view them on a large video screen, to find out different information about that country. In the Lithuanian Money Hall visitors will see the coins of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Republic of Lithuania and other territories that circulated in Lithuania.    

In the Museum special attention is devoted to the Bank of Lithuania - the central bank of the Republic of Lithuania. The exhibits displayed in the showcases tell about the production of contemporary Lithuanian money, its productions materials, the technological solutions applied by different producers; uncirculated specimen banknotes are also displayed. The posters available in the hall highlight the history of the Bank of Lithuania since its establishment in 1990 to the present day, the way covered while joining the European System of Central Banks, and the actions taken with the aim of adopting the euro.  

The Museum’s exposition has been prepared by its staff Vidmantas Laurinavicius, Vincas Ruzas, Asta Ravaitytė-Kucinskiene, Ausra Skardziukiene and UAB “Contraforma”.

During the presentation of the new exposition the Manager of the Money Museum thanked architect Danute Juskiene and designer Giedre Juskiene for their creative contribution to the development of the Museum, contractor general UAB “Senove” for its works in adapting and equipping the premises, subcontractors UAB “Contraforma”, UAB “Euroelekronika”, and UAB “Vesa ir partneriai”. 

The moving stands, lifts for the disabled enable viewing the exposition by visitors of different age, also by those disabled.  

The Museum of the Bank of Lithuania opened its doors to visitors in 1999.  The Museum’s stocks already comprise 42 thousand exhibits reflecting the development of banking and monetary relations in Lithuania, the history of the Bank of Lithuania, the creation and production of national currency. According to usual museum practices, in the exposition we only see a small part of the exhibits.

For more information on the Money Museum, visitor registration for excursions, teaching and educational events see www.pinigumuziejus.lt.