Although in Mexico there are people who do not bring even a fifth due to inflation, the truth is that nobody is a gold coin, since a good part of the culture of Mexicans is developed around money.
That is something that the Bank of Mexico knows very well, which a few months ago decided to open its doors to the public to show its best-kept treasures and the interesting process to make banknotes and coins or how one value is attributed to them and not another.
"We have three objectives: Give the population access to our facilities, explain the work of the bank and also show the numismatic collection," says Anareli Acosta, director of the Banco de México Museum.
In this space, visitors can play central bankers for a day, promote electronic transactions, provide money to the country's economy and monitor the development of the financial system.
If this seems too ambitious, you can also play at designing banknotes or place yourself on one of them using
deepfake
technology .
the crown jewels
One of the most unusual places in the museum is its vaults, which are accessed by going down the stairs in the center of the building.
They house a numismatic collection with more than 118,000 pieces.
"It is the heart of the Bank of Mexico, one of the spaces that used to be closed, but that represent trust and protection," says the museum's director.
In this space, where one can almost feel like the protagonist of an episode of
La Casa de Papel
a la Mexicana, the cash was kept, which was later distributed to all corners of the country, but which came from the American Bank Note Company, from there they arrived the first three families of banknotes.
The Mexican factory was inaugurated in 1969. “Many people are nostalgic to see the bills or coins they used as children and thus we can take a trip through history.
Today Mexico already has two banknote factories, one in the capital and the other in Jalisco, which are responsible for
making
money with security and technology to prevent counterfeiting.
The institution's coin collection is full of curious facts.
For example, one of the oldest pieces dates back to 336 BC, and is a cast metal piece with the bust of Alexander the Great.
Additionally, in the vault there are countless ancient coins that were used in Mexico in other times.
The building, located in the historic center of Mexico City, was built from 1903 to 1905 and restored by the architect Carlos Obregón Santacilia in 1926. Only the architectural details in Art Decó make the visit enriching.
The lobby, known as the Banking Room, is made up of eight columns covered in black marble and which are also used for interaction with the enclosure.
Additionally, one of the great attractions is a stained glass window that has a life of its own and whose history is peculiar.
"It was a project that was thought of in 1935 by the plastic artist Fermín Revueltas, which did not materialize, since he died two months after making the sketch, which was left in pencil and in black and white," explains Acosta.
When it is decided to open the museum, the bank installs a digitally animated stained glass window that welcomes visitors every half hour.
The two main rooms explain to the public not only the functions carried out by the Bank of Mexico, but also what money is and is not.
"There are things that are valuable, like diamonds, that are not money because nobody could accept them from you," details the head of the venue.
For that piece of paper that we carry in our wallets to be considered money, it has to fulfill three functions: to serve as a unit of account, as a means of exchange, and as a store of value.
That is why those food vouchers that some companies distribute are not money, since they are not accepted in all parts of the country.
the most beautiful ticket
Mexico is the holder of the Banknote of the Year for 2021, an award granted by the International Bank Note Society (IBNS) and which on that occasion awarded the design of fifty pesos from the new collection of Mexican banknotes as one of the the most beautiful in the world.
“By means of an eight-fold magnification and very interactive, we can see all the elements of this banknote”, says the director of the museum.
On the obverse, a design that alludes to the founding of Mexico-Tenochtitlan, and on the reverse, the beauty of the axolotl and corn in front of the Xochimilco canals, have not only earned the title of banknote of the year, but also They have also won the hearts of Mexicans, so much so that it is now rare to see them in circulation.
"People have started to collect it, that's why it's not seen as much, but it's still being broadcast," explains Acosta.
The museum opens its collection, in addition to other temporary exhibitions that show, for example, how leftovers that do not pass the bank's strict quality control (material known as waste) can become works of art.
"My favorite bill is the one thousand pesos, although it is not so common to see it," confesses Acosta.
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