Over 33,000 visit 100 years of koruna exhibition

Over 33,000 people visited the 100 years of the koruna exhibition held in the Imperial Stables at Prague Castle between 1 February and 12 May 2019 to mark this major anniversary of the Czech currency. The star exhibit was a gold heavyweight coin commissioned by the CNB specially for the anniversary.

The exhibition, which the CNB organised jointly with the Office of the President of the Czech Republic and the Prague Castle Administration, was extended by two weeks due to popular demand. This meant it was open to the public for a symbolic 100 days. The number of visitors totalled 33,068, almost 4,000 of which were school pupils and students on organised tours.

“We are delighted with the public’s extraordinarily warm response to the exhibition. The exhibition was unique, as it marked a very special occasion – the 100th anniversary of our independent currency. Equally unique was the symbol of the celebrations of this anniversary – the world’s second largest gold coin, with a nominal value of CZK 100,000,000, which we first showed to the public at this very exhibition,” said CNB Governor Jiří Rusnok.

The 130 kg coin – the largest gold coin in Europe – was designed by Vladimír Oppl. It is owned by the central bank and will be put in the CNB’s permanent exhibition at its Prague headquarters in the next few days.

Other interesting exhibits included copies of the Czech, Austrian and Hungarian royal crowns and the first ever commemorative banknote, which the CNB re-issued this year to mark this occasion.

Other items from the CNB archives were exhibited to the public for the first time ever on such a scale. The exhibition presented many of the notes and coins used in the Czechoslovak state and later the Czech Republic over the last 100 years. These included banknote designs created by Alfons Mucha in 1918 and 1919 and the works of other luminaries of Czech and Slovak graphic design, such as Max Švabinský, Cyril Bouda, Karel Svolinský, Albín Brunovský and Oldřich Kulhánek. The coin designs on display included ones by Otakar Španiel, Jiří Harcuba and Vladimír Oppl. Young visitors were offered comic books and worksheets to check their new knowledge in a fun way. These educational materials from the exhibition remain available on the CNB website (in Czech only).

The exhibition has ended, but the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the koruna go on. The anniversary will be commemorated during the traditional Museum Night Festival to take place in Brno on 18 May and Prague on 8 June 2019. Both CNB exhibitions will stay open until late at night on both days as part of this event. The CNB Open Day will close the celebrations on 21 September 2019, offering visitors a rich programme, including another chance to see the 100-million-crown gold coin.

The CNB’s final numismatic contribution to the celebrations will be a silver commemorative coin to mark the 100th anniversary of the commencement of issuance of the Czechoslovak currency. The coin will be issued on 3 July 2019.

Markéta Fišerová
Director of the Communications Division and CNB Spokesperson

View the photo gallery from the 100 years of the koruna exhibition.
Watch a documentary film about the creation and production of the Czech heavyweight coin.
Wishes for the koruna by prominent personalities: CNB official ceremony to mark the commencement of the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the koruna.