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The Money Museum of the Bank of Lithuania
The Money Museum of the Bank of Lithuania is a museum established by the Bank of Lithuania and is located in a building owned by the bank’s complex at Totorių g. 2/8, Vilnius. There is also a museum exposition in Kaunas (Maironio g. 25), dedicated to the history of Lithuanian money and banking. Museum visits and guided tours are free of charge.

History
The early history of the museum date backs to 1985, when the Museum of the History of the State Bank was housed in the Lithuanian Republican Office of the USSR State Bank. In 1986, it was registered as one of the public museums of the LSSR.

After the restoration of Lithuania’s independence in 1990 and the establishment of the Bank of Lithuania, the Lithuanian Republican Office of the USSR State Bank and its subordinate institutions were liquidated. The museum’s activities stopped as well. In 1993, the museum’s activities resumed, and a new exposition was prepared from exhibits that had been donated and found at or borrowed from the bank divisions. After being critically evaluated by the new management of the Bank of Lithuania in 1996, the museum was closed again and the exposition was disassembled. The museum decided to look for new premises and staff members, prepare legal acts regulating the activities of the Museum of the Bank of Lithuania, conceptualize the new exhibition, and plan for further strategic directions and tasks.

In 1997, the concept for the Museum’s activities and reconstruction was developed.

In 1998, the museum became an associate member of the Association of Lithuanian Museums.

On 25 June 1999, commemorating the sixth anniversary of the introduction of the litas, the renewed Museum of the Bank of Lithuania, with a new exhibition presenting the money of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the history of banking and money in independent Lithuania, was opened to the public.

In 2007−2010  the museum was reconstructed and moved to new premises where a pharmacy had previously been located. The museum was expanded and renamed the Money Museum of the Bank of Lithuania.

On 21 December 2010, a new modern exposition of the Money Museum was opened.

The Money Museum has received a number of awards: in 2012 and 2013 it was named “The Friendliest Museum” in Vilnius, in 2013 – “The Most Hospitable Museum in Vilnius” and in 2014, a guide at the Money Museum, Nijolė Butkevičienė, earned the title of “The Most Hospitable Employee of a Cultural Institution in Vilnius.” The Money Museum also received attention in the international arena: in 2014, it was nominated as the European Museum of the Year, and in 2013, the scientific journal MintWorld Compendium named it one of the top-five central bank museums in the world. This list also included the central bank museums of Canada, the German Bundesbank, South Korea, and the US Federal Reserve System.

The Museum is an institutional member of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) and a participant of the Lithuanian Integral Museum Information System (LIMIS).

Collection
The Museum has an area of 260 sq. m., and its exposition is adapted to the different needs of visitors. It is accessible to people of all ages as well as visitors with disabilities.

Basic information is available in Lithuanian and English. A multilingual audio-guide system is also provided.

There are five exhibition halls in the museum:
History of Money. This hall presents the development of money from the most primitive forms − grain, shells, furs, and amber − to modern electronic money. In the context of world money, the currencies of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Republic of Lithuania (1918−1940 and after 1990) are shown. After visiting an improvised mint, the museum visitor can see the change in minting technologies − from the tools in the restored primitive 15th century mint to later times. Using one of the oldest production methods, the visitor can take on the role of a minter and strike their own souvenir 1 skatikas. A favorite's among visitors, special interactive scales will answer the question of how much a person would cost if they were made of gold, silver, or platinum.

History of Banking. This hall introduces the origins of banking operations, the first medieval caste-based, central, and joint-stock commercial banks. The development of banking in Lithuania from the emergence of the first credit institutions to the present day, the role of the Bank of Lithuania in the implementation of the 1922 monetary reform, stabilizing the country’s financial and credit market during the global economic crisis, and the collapse of national banking after the occupation of Lithuania by the Soviets in 1940 are all also presented. Detailed information about the activities of the inter-war Bank of Lithuania in issuing money, accumulating foreign exchange and gold reserves, and promoting economic development is presented in a virtual exhibition called “Money in Lithuania 1914−1945”.

Contemporary Money. The money exhibited in this hall introduces visitors to banknotes and coins used in various countries around the world today. Banknotes placed in special drawers can only be viewed by the visitor after pulling out the drawer with the name of the selected country. The drawers have special sensors that are connected to a computer programmed that activates the screen in the video wall and provides a variety of additional information about the selected country. This exhibitions pays a lot of attention to the Bank of Lithuania − the central bank of the Republic of Lithuania. The exhibits presented in the showcases represent the production of modern Lithuanian money, means of production, technological solutions applied by different manufacturers, and examples of unissued banknotes. Computer terminals can be used to find detailed information about the functions of the Bank of Lithuania, learn more about banknote security features, and visitors can even check the authenticity of their own banknotes under a UV lamp.

Lithuanian Money. This hall is equipped with eight vertically moving automatic conveyors. Each contains 30 plastic plates with coins from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Republic of Lithuania as well as coins from other countries that had been in circulation in Lithuania. The visitor can adjust the viewing height of the plates with coins by means of a button and raise or lower the magnifying glass with an additional button, being able to see even the smallest elements of any coin. Stationary stands display collector (commemorative) coins of the Republic of Lithuania, and 20 pull-out cases hold banknotes used in our country from the end of the 18th century to the present day.

Exhibition and Education. The Exhibition and Education Hall is for holding classes, lectures, conferences, and temporary exhibitions. Here the visitor can also see the world’s largest coin pyramid made from one million Lithuanian 1-centas coins. This achievement is included in the Guinness Book of World Records. The pyramid was built in 2014 and is made up of 1,000,935 coins.

The Money Museum hosts guided tours, classes, virtual lessons, and other interactive activities for visitors of all ages.

Kaunas collection
On 18 December 2007, the historic Palace of the Bank of Lithuania in Kaunas, where the central bank of the country was operating during the interwar period, set up an exhibition of the Money Museum of the Bank of Lithuania. It revealed the long and rich history of Lithuanian money and banking: the emergence of the first Lithuanian money in the 13th century, the coins of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the establishment of the Bank of Lithuania, the creation of the national monetary system after the declaration of independence in 1918, its destruction during the Soviet occupation, the creation of the state financial system that restored independence, and joining the euro area in 2015.

In Kaunas, visitors can see unique museum exhibits − money production tools, unissued coin projects, samples, banknotes that didn’t enter into circulation, and other valuable exhibits related to the activities of the interwar and the modern Bank of Lithuania.

Free tours and lessons are held at the Bank of Lithuania in Kaunas.

Heads

 * 1999−2021 − Vidmantas Laurinavičius
 * From 2021 − Asta Ravaitytė-Kučinskienė

Links

 * Website of the Money Museum
 * Registration for tours at the Money Museum
 * Registration for excursions in Kaunas
 * Video presenting the Money Museum