2014-11-26
In one month after the Euro Exhibition opened, the number of its visitors exceeded 20,000. People are mainly interested in practical information: what the coins of all the euro area countries look like, how to differentiate an authentic euro banknote from a counterfeit. Visitors have also been seizing the opportunity to hold the gold “brick”, weighing 12.5 kg, in their hands.
“The Euro Exhibition, which became a site of attraction, is the venue where people can get more closely acquainted with our new currency in ways acceptable to them. For instance, the young visitors of the Exhibition, during the Family Days, do euro banknote puzzles or draw a euro coin of their own, while the most important thing for elderly residents is direct communication with Euro Exhibition guides and the possibility to ask questions,” says Miglė Mockutė–Zaleckienė, curator of the Exhibition.
Groups of schoolchildren, groups of co-workers, pensioners, students and families have been arriving from all over Lithuania for guided tours of the Euro Exhibition, which is hosted in the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania. Visitors have been willingly taking open guided tours on weekdays at 11:00 am and 1:00 pm.
“While some people come to guided tours without even knowing that euro banknotes are the same in all countries, at the end of the tour they already list in chorus the euro security features, and this pleases us so much,” says Tadas Šakūnas, a Euro Exhibition guide.
The young visitors surprise the guides by their original questions and insights. For instance, one little girl has claimed: “If there are euros in Europe, then there must be ‘asios’ in Asia". Adult visitors are interested both in the history, design of the new currency and the practical aspects of the euro adoption. Visitors have been willingly taking the opportunity to get information material: leaflets, hologram cards, which indicate the most popular values in litas and euro.
The Euro Exhibition in Lithuania will be open for visitors until 5 January 2015. Those who have been late to register for guided tours will be able to visit the Exhibition on their own without advance registration. Admission is free.
The Euro Exhibition is organised by the European Central Bank, the Bank of Lithuania and the National Museum Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania. Since 2008 it has travelled over 15 different cities in 12 European countries. It has already been attended by a total of over 300,000 visitors.
For more information on the Euro Exhibition and its events go to the official website www.europaroda.lt (only in Lithuanian).