Museum of Money

Located just off the Praca de Municipal the Museum of money or Museo do dinero is a converted church. There was I thinking we had escaped churches for a day and we were about to go into the Largo de San Juliáo, yet another church! however converted in a most tasteful and interesting way by the sponsors of the museum the Banco de Portugal

This is one of the truly ancient areas of Lisbon just adjacent to the Praca de Commercial, which has been a centre of activity since the Romans and Phoenicians were trading from quays on the river . The renovation has been very well done and the building has lost none of its splendour (to my eyes at least )

The interior is still quite obviously a church but obviously deconsecrated hence the floor decorations under Lynnes feet which revealed their true symbology later in the day. So far we had not been asked to pay but we were directed towards the ticket office which is located through an impressive vault door. The tickets were free but had a use throughout the museum as you could insert them into the interactive exhibits and something would happen, if that was an audio presentation it would be in English for example The tickets also came in handy after as colourful bookmarks.

Non the less although being actually fairly computer and interactive literate the first exibit who I shall refer to as the Electronic monk had us stumped until an observant employee of the museum came over to explain again in perfect English where we were going wrong and how best to navigate the several floors of the museum. So far I was well impressed The monk incidentally is supposed to be Hermes, the Greek God of trade and Barter.

The Strange talking electronic monk  (Hermes ) did indeed begin to tell us of the origins of money and trade after a ticket had been inserted in an appropriate slot and encouraged us to look through his many orifices (you really had to be there) to see small exhibits of things close up which had value in the ancient world. There followed an explanation of the building itself and the surrounding area in a side exhibition.

This really characterises this museum, its very interactive and superbly well done. The ground floor and basement are dedicated to the history of the church and the remains of a buried incumbent were prominently displayed along with an explanation of the excavation of the church before conversion to the fantastic modern museum it was now.

Below the church levels in the crypt so to speak, were the remains of King Dinis (1261-1325 )  wall which was and is a national monument and is a medieval wall with parts dating from Roman and Islamic periods in Lisbon's history. There is a long corridor leading to the deep excavation.

As you approach the excavations exhibits are on display. Lynne and I have seen a lot of pottery fragments and even a history nut like me can start to feel a little jaded but here they have 3D recreations of the complete piece, pottery piece for example that slowly rotates on a screen behind the exhibit . This is so subtly done that the thing seems to hang in mid air and is very involving. Again I have to give credit to the designers or curators, absolutely superb, and we hadn't seen any money yet!

The wall itself is fascinating and is possibly 20, 25 metres below ground, sound effects play and in the semi gloom its possible to feel yourself travelling back across the centuries, haggling with Phoenician traders for a cargo of wine from Tuscany or anchovies from North Africa, or even tin from Cornwall.

 As we left the crypt and climbed into the museum proper ( as in to do with money ) we went into a kind of art installation where you could record a piece for posterity about what money meant to you. This would be replayed endlessly to further visitors. We passed on that but enjoyed watching the braver participants who had been before us. Speaking of which the strange rectangular floor markings now made sense from the second floor. They marked where the graves had been excavated from the body of the church, all burials in Portugal until very recently had to be in the body of the church. The dark rectangles represent deep burials and the lighter grey shallower ones. There were a suspicious number of very small graves, which reminded me of the high infant mortality of older times.

The money exhibits are fascinating. Gold,  paper, real and counterfeit its all here. Production distribution , history money is so intertwined with history and endeavour and is sadly sometimes just an adjunct to a story, whereas here it is the story.

It can occupy you for several hours, and being Portugal there is a bit of an emphasis on the huge amounts of Gold and wealth that was traded with South America and the orient.

Lynne had her face put on an old Escudo bill, interactivity is everything here. If you wish you can go home and go to the website and print of some of your activities at home, very clever.....

We stayed to go to the cafe which incidentally is one of the best and certainly among the cheapest we have found in Lisbon. A brilliant place to visit and unbelievable value for money being completely free. For a Museum of money that is saying something. Heartily recommended. Even the souvenir shop is reasonable! Fabulous......