Nowadays, commercial transactions are standardized. We pay for goods and services either with coins, notes, electronic or bank money. Nevertheless this has not always been the case.
Tag: history
Theresienstadt: notes as a disguise of sheer misery
By the end of the Second World War the Allied Forces gradually liberated all concentration camps. Joy and gratitude coincided with a growing awareness of the havoc and devastation caused by the war. Amongst others: the genocide of the Jewish people.
1000 francs for the Battle of the Yser
The Belgian banknote has always been the nation’s ambassador. At its very beginning national allegories decorated the note, later on they were replaced by royals and only the latter series made room for Belgian historical or cultural figures. By doing so the iconographic field became much larger for the latter series.
Heritage Day 2009
The Museum of the National Bank of Belgium takes part in the 2009 edition of the ‘Erfgoeddag’, the yearly heritage day in Flanders and Brussels. The theme of this year: ‘Out of friendship!
El Dorado, the myth
The discovery of the cultures of the New World by European explorers at the end of the 15th century largely surpassed it’s geographical and economic importance. It also strongly rekindled the slumbering medieval myths and legends, like the Fountain of Youth and the Garden of Eden.
The Athenian drachma, a long tradition … from antique coin to euro
Greeks love their history and the introduction of the euro coins and notes offered them a perfect occasion to pass on this passion to the rest of Europe. With the owl and the olive branch on the national side of their 1 euro coin they underline their rich past, the historic importance of the Athenian city-state and last but not least the fact that Greece is the cradle of European coinage.
The Vierlander, a precursor of the Euro. A first step towards monetary unification
Since the invention of money, a lot of regions, cities, countries and people use their own means of payment. Consquently, the variety of currencies has always been enormous Today the euro, the currency of an evergrowing number of European countries, is the result of a long process of monetary unification. The vierlander (= four lands), the 15th century silver coin we are focussing on this month, is one of the early forerunners of monetary union.
The money changer’s bench
One may wonder why the Museum of the National Bank of Belgium placed a wooden table right in the centre of the main exhibition hall where the history of money is told. The answer is quite simple, the bench belonged to a money changer. The owner of the bench did not only change money, as his profession might suggest, he also acted as a banker. Money changers found their way to the cities of the Low Countries in the Late Middle Ages. If you only think about the enormous variety of coins in circulation, it becomes quite obvious money changers played an important role in the economic life of a medieval citizen.
Paper money, a Chinese invention?
First paper, then paper money. This is pure logic. It is hardly surprising that the first notes or better, the first paper money, appeared in China. With the invention of paper and printing on its account, this country was almost destined to produce the first paper money.
Salt, the white gold?
Today, we use salt to season food, for instance on French fries. But do you know that throughout history salt was used on a far more larger scale than nowadays? And that it was a common means of payment?
