Description of the attraction
The Currency Museum is rightfully considered one of the most interesting and popular museums in the city of Ottawa.
The history of the Currency Museum began in the late 1950s with a proposal by the head of the Bank of Canada, James Coyne, to create a national currency collection. This is how the long and painstaking process of collecting the collection for the future museum began, stretching for more than one decade. And although the priority was initially the acquisition of exhibits related only to the history of the emergence and development of the national currency of Canada, the bank simultaneously acquired thousands of exhibits from various monetary systems of the world. The collection grew rapidly, replenishing both thanks to the bank's acquisitions from collectors and private firms, as well as from government agencies. Among the most important acquisitions, it is worth noting the collection of the famous numismatist Douglas Ferguson, the unique collection of Hart, acquired by the government of Canada back in 1883, and rare exhibits of one of the leading numismatists of Canada - McLachlan. For the first time, the Currency Museum opened its doors to visitors on December 5, 1980.
Today, the museum collection has more than 110,000 exhibits - coins, banknotes, tokens, scales, cash registers, various devices for the production, storage and accounting of money, as well as amusing samples of forgeries and much more. The collection of Canadian coins, paper money and other banknotes presented in the museum is the largest collection of the national currency of Canada.
The museum's excellent library and archives contain over 8,500 specialized books, brochures, magazines and valuable historical documents, the earliest of which date back to the Middle Ages.
On a regular basis, the museum hosts a variety of temporary exhibitions, thematic lectures and seminars. The Museum of Currency also provides general education programs for schoolchildren.
