National Heritage

Facing the tip of the Ile de la Cité stands the Monnaie de Paris - the Paris Mint - the section of the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry responsible for the production of coins and medals, as well as the euro. Universally known for its skills, techniques and expertise in metalwork and direct cutting from steel, it is France’s oldest institution if not the world’s. Housed in one of the finest Neoclassical monuments of the 18th century, it has served the Monarchy, the Empire and the Republic for twelve centuries. Looking resolutely to the future, this State-controlled industrial company, whose status is changing in January 2007, is building up its export trade, notably to African countries and Afghanistan, but also to Malta, Luxembourg, Israel, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the Yemen.

The Hôtel de la Monnaie stands opposite the Louvre museum, where the Seine is at its widest, between the Pont Neuf and the Passerelle des Arts, in one of the most beautiful districts of Paris, whose intellectual and artistic life is renowned the world over. Successively based in the Palais de la Cité, near the Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie church in the Marais, on rue de la Monnaie, then in its present location, the Monnaie de Paris is France’s oldest institution. A reference is made to it in the Edict of Pitres (864) dating from the time of Charles the Bald who, to ensure fuller control of the issuing of money, had it “forbidden to manufacture coins in any other place than at the Palais”. Since then, the organisation of production has continued to change over the centuries.

The magnificent building consists of a main body 117 metres long and 27 metres high overlooking the Seine, flanked by two side wings on rue Guénégaud and on impasse Conti. Designed from the outset to house a mint, it is the work of architect Jacques-Antoine Denis, to whom Louis XV entrusted the construction between 1771 and 1775. The Monnaie de Paris does not have the undulating elegance of its neighbour, the Institut de France. Here, the buildings are sober, bare, functional and inspired by a return to antiquity, to reason. “Each part of our building, each room, each reception room, each machine, and I would even say each stone or hidden recess reveals its own bit of our history and sometimes holds an anecdote or a secret,” says Dov Zérah, director of the Monnaie de Paris who recently published a book on the subject (1). Dov Zérah tells us for instance that in 1793, at the time of the French Revolution, Jacques-Antoine Denis was accused by the revolutionaries, or “sans-culottes” as they were known, of having created a secret underground passage for smuggling gold. Imprisoned for several months in the terrible La Force prison, he was eventually released. The famous underground passage is in fact a tunnel used to this day to ventilate the cellars of the building.

The minting of coins has been carried out directly by the State since 1879. Here in a genuine craftsmen’s studio in the heart of Paris, with its foundry, its furnaces, its presses, noises and smells, 384 people work, including 248 shop-floor workers, master engravers, jewellers, craftsmen founders, stampers and coiners, possessing a unique skill that they are the last ones to master. “1500 to 2000 collectors’ coins in gold and silver precious metals come out of these workshops every day, made to order, at the end of a complex and sophisticated process,” estimates Dov Zérah. We have come a long way from early coin striking, by stages. Now the hand of man and computer science work together.

From 1973 the State, for the sake of rationalisation, decided that coins in general circulation, whether these were French coins, the euro or foreign currencies, would be manufactured in Gironde, at the Pessac factory (in the south-west suburb of Bordeaux), which employs over 340 workers. Since 2003, the city has hosted the European Technical and Scientific Centre that works to combat the counterfeiting of coins. An interesting fact to note is that during the transition to the euro, between 1998 and 2002, the Pessac factory minted nearly 9 billion euro coins.

The Monnaie de Paris is concentrating on building up its exports, in particular to African countries, with which it is a major partner in matters of minting, but also to Afghanistan, Malta, Lebanon, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Luxembourg. “Indeed, we have just won a competitive tender from Luxembourg,” comments Dov Zérah. And although the franc went out of circulation in France on 17 February 2002, it is still the currency of several million people worldwide: in Africa, in the Indian Ocean and in the Pacific Islands. “In 2005, we received an order from the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) for 1.3 billion coins,” Dov Zérah points out. The Direction des Monnaies et Médailles [Mint and Medals Directorate], which has a growing turnover in exports, also signed a contract in 2004 for the production of 600 million coins for the Afghan Republic.

Every year, or almost every year, collectors’ coins designed at the Quai de Conti foundry are singled out for honours and awards for their quality, their creativity, their technical achievements or the quality of their design. In addition to collectors’ items and medals, the artistic and cultural vocation of the Direction des monnaies et médailles has opened itself to the manufacture of all civil and military decorations, as well as to the creation of art bronzes and jewellery. These various products are sold under the brand name “Monnaie de Paris”.

At the back of the Main Courtyard, the former mint workshops that have now moved to Pessac, house the very modern Musée de la Monnaie, with exhibitions of its numismatic collections. In 2006 the Coins of the World gallery opened, where every currency in circulation throughout the world is on display. On this occasion, the Monnaie de Paris hosted the 2006 Mint Directors Conference, an international event for coin manufacturers, attended by nearly 400 production managers. “We will be chairing this conference until 2008”, Dov Zérah remarks.

In the context of a modernisation strategy of the oldest central administration of the Republic, the Monnaie de Paris is changing its status. On 1 January 2007, it will become an Etablissement industriel et commercial (Epic) [Public Industrial and Commercial Institution]. In the medium term this new legal status should allow the company to become a benchmark European monetary institute at both industrial and commercial level.

“This will strengthen the commercial nature of our relations with other countries. Let’s not forget that international competition is an excellent spur for dynamism and excellence. It is one of the best driving forces in the reform of a company that includes skills with a strong traditional heritage,” Dov Zérah concludes.

Written by Annik Bianchini taken from Actualité en France (magazine of the ministry of Foreign Affairs)

(1) “La Monnaie de Paris”, Dov Zérah, pub. Éditions Le Cherche-Midi, 2006, Paris.

Website of the Monnaie de Paris: www.monnaiedeparis.fr