Monnaie de Paris reveals its treasures
After 6 years of work, the transformation works at the Parisian site of Monnaie de Paris concluded to give birth to 11 Conti - Monnaie de Paris. Completely renovated, Monnaie de Paris reveals its ambitious project and invites visitors to discover a museum dedicated to the theme of minting, artisan crafts, but also dedicate to exceptional heritage collections.
11 Conti - Monnaie de Paris : a cultural, gastronomic and commercial offer
Since 1775, the Parisian site of Monnaie de Paris site has been established at 11 Quai de Conti in the heart of the 6th arrondissement. Taking the name of its historic location, the Monnaie de Paris opens 11 Conti - Monnaie de Paris.
The site thus becomes a new and welcoming living space that is open to the city, offering new cultural options.
A new circuit: the 11 Conti Museum allows visitors to discover the artisan workshops where nearly 150 craftsmen work, as well as the heritage collections, the hidden treasures of Monnaie de Paris. This permanent circuit echoes the temporary exhibitions of modern and contemporary art, which are held several times a year.
A new commercial offer also showcases the artistic productions and the excellence of our craftsmanship with a new shop for metal arts under the Monnaie de Paris banner. Renowned brands representing the excellence of French know-how, art of living and culture, find their place at the heart of the site.
11 Conti - Monnaie de Paris also provides an exceptional dining offer by hosting a Guy Savoy’s three-star restaurant since 2015, elected in 2017 as the «best table in the world» by La Liste. This nomination serves to recall the strong history that links Monnaie de Paris with the French tradition. A new café has also been put in place in Cour de la Méridienne to round-off the gastronomic offer.
11 Conti - Monnaie de Paris is accessible, free of charge, via several streetsand offers the public the opportunity to discover this masterpiece of architecture in the heart of Paris. This new circuit allows visitors to wander the site and linger in the inner courtyards that form urban squares. Therefore, 11 Conti - Monnaie de Paris becomes a logical place to cross from one bank of the Seine to the other.
1150 years of history
France's longest standing institution and the oldest enterprise in the world, Monnaie de Paris was officially founded in 864 with the Edict of Pistres. In the Edict, Charles II - known as Charles the Bald - decreed the creation of a coining workshop in Paris, attached to the crown, in addition to eight further workshops in the provinces. The Parisian workshop, the only one in France in continuous operation since it opened, gained precedence under the Ancien Régime as the country's foremost mint.
In 1958, the chairman of the Council of Ministers approved a report of the decentralisation committee recommending that minting facilities should be far from the Paris region. This choice was justified by the constraints of the Parisian site of Monnaie de Paris (a historic landmark) making it impossible to further develop the industrial unit. A new division was therefore resolved, still operating today: The regional factory would be reserved for industrial minting while the Paris site would maintain the artisans.
Attached to the French ministry for the economy, finances and industry since 1796, Monnaie de Paris became an Etablissement public industriel et commercial (EPIC, an official designation for state-funded industrial and commercial institutions) on 1 January 2007.
A rich artistic programme
Monnaie de Paris has shown many contemporary artists since
2008: Daniel Buren, Tadashi Kawamata, David LaChapelle, Jean Prouvé or Maurizio Cattelan. An ancestral site for production and for dialogue with the artists who marked their era, since its reopening, Monnaie de Paris has presented today’s greatest creators through exhibitions, events and also performances.
This new programming allows the public to discover artists from diverse backgrounds, internationally renowned, invited to produce specific projects in resonance with the site. As part of its transformation project, in October 2011 the Monnaie de Paris created a Cultural Programming Department to instil a new dynamic to the exhibitions and events it produces. A new programme of exhibitions under the direction of Chiara Parisi was presented in 2014, to mark the reopening of the exhibition rooms: with works from Paul McCarthy, Marcel Broodthaers, Jannis Kounellis, Bertrand Lavier and Maurizio Cattelan, among others.
Since January 2017, the exhibition schedule has been curated by Camille Morineau and follows several main lines; women artists, the history of sculpture as well as the French scene. The exhibition “A pied d’oeuvre(s)” organised to mark the 40th anniversary of the Pompidou Centre represents the continuity of Monnaie de Paris’ demanding schedule.
