4.5.12 Museu do Dinheiro
Largo de São Julião
Location HERE.
A museum for money? It’s more the museum for the Banco de Portugal, illustrating the Bank’s role in assisting the transition from the Estado Novo to the Third Republic, which brought with it a return to democracy, and then guiding Portugal’s entry to the EU, and single currency.
Some of the graphics and stats on display stand out: today, there is more or less zero illiteracy among Portugal’s population. But in 1970, the illiteracy rate stood at around 25%, and on average, citizens enjoyed no more than two to four years’ full time education. It was this kind of cost cutting that enabled the Estado Novo to balance the books, even during the colonial wars.
One visual which EU and Euro haters will not find easy is that showing inflation in Portugal, alongside the country’s GDP. In the late 1970s, and 1980s, inflation was persistent and GDP low. Since Portugal became part of the EU, and then European Monetary Union (adopting the Euro), inflation has been low, with GDP on an ever rising trend. Those inconvenient facts!
Which might explain why, despite low wages across the country, membership of the EU remains massively popular, approval ratings being in excess of 90%, with around 70% backing membership of the Single Currency.
And the best thing about the Museu do Dinheiro? It’s free. You will have to go through a security scan before being allowed in, mind. The attraction, in a former church building, is centrally located, at the western side of the Baixa, and a short walk from the Praça do Comércio.
Metro Baixa-Chiado, Terreiro do Paço, or Cais do Sodré; Tram 15 or 25; Buses 706, 728, 735, 760, 781.
Location HERE.
A museum for money? It’s more the museum for the Banco de Portugal, illustrating the Bank’s role in assisting the transition from the Estado Novo to the Third Republic, which brought with it a return to democracy, and then guiding Portugal’s entry to the EU, and single currency.
One visual which EU and Euro haters will not find easy is that showing inflation in Portugal, alongside the country’s GDP. In the late 1970s, and 1980s, inflation was persistent and GDP low. Since Portugal became part of the EU, and then European Monetary Union (adopting the Euro), inflation has been low, with GDP on an ever rising trend. Those inconvenient facts!
Which might explain why, despite low wages across the country, membership of the EU remains massively popular, approval ratings being in excess of 90%, with around 70% backing membership of the Single Currency.
And the best thing about the Museu do Dinheiro? It’s free. You will have to go through a security scan before being allowed in, mind. The attraction, in a former church building, is centrally located, at the western side of the Baixa, and a short walk from the Praça do Comércio.
Metro Baixa-Chiado, Terreiro do Paço, or Cais do Sodré; Tram 15 or 25; Buses 706, 728, 735, 760, 781.
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