WHO’S WHO. Portraits on Austrian schilling banknotes
Special Exhibition – August 20, 2019 – July 24, 2020
Images used on banknotes are important symbols of national identity. Typical candidates for banknote images include popular artists, renowned scientists or famous architects – people who are an inspiration and generate a sense of identification.
The history of schilling banknotes circulating in Austria from 1950 to 2001 reads like a who’s who of Austrian history. The generations of banknotes issued during those years featured as many as 22 famous personalities: four Nobel Prize winners (among them one woman), the father of psychoanalysis, a women’s rights activist, the mastermind of the monumental Semmering railway line, the composer of The Magic Flute, and many, many more.
In its special exhibition, the OeNB’s Money Museum proudly presents for the first time 56 sketches and drawings of schilling banknotes from the museum’s own collection. Exhibits include concept designs and examples of alternative banknote designs that were never realized.