Bavarian State Coin Collection (Munich)

Background

The very core of the Bavarian State Coin Collection in Munich dates back to Duke Albert V of Bavaria. Assembling this collection was part of his cultural policies, which turned Munich into a major centre of art. He had the Marstall building erected between the old and the new residence, which was to be home to his art chamber, including the coin collection. Today, we know this building as the “old mint” (Alte Münze) because the royal Bavarian mint started to operate on the premises in the 19th century.

His successors also contributed to the growth of the Munich coin collection – except for a period of depletion caused by the Swedes in the Thirty Years’ War. Many other collections were added to it, for example the coin collection of the Palatine branch of the House of Wittelsbach, which was brought to Munich by Elector Charles Theodore. Even more pieces were added after the mass secularisation of 1803, when numerous monastery coin collections were incorporated. Ignaz von Streber, the curator of the electoral collection, chose the most important pieces from these ensembles. In 1807, he became the first director of the royal coin collection, as it was taken out of the responsibility of the court administration to become part of the Academy of Sciences.

Just one year later, King Max I Joseph adopted a law that was to bless Bavaria with a great deal of coin hoards: From then on, the Bavarian Ordinance for the Protection of Found Coins and Antiquities stipulated that the possession of coin hoards had to be shared equally by the lucky finder and the landowner, as long as the hoard was registered with the coin collection. In the 19th century alone, this requirement ensured the survival of 330 hoards.

Until the Second World War, the Bavarian State Coin Collection was located in the Old Academy in Neuhauser Straße. Fortunately, not only the collection but also the library was evacuated and safely stored prior to the bomb attacks on Munich. Thus, neither were destroyed when the Academy was hit by air strikes in 1944 and blasted into oblivion.

Since 1963, the Bavarian State Coin Collection has been located in the chapel courtyard (Kapellenhof) of the Residence, where the public can use the extensive library and visit a permanent exhibition.