The Coin Cabinet tells history as it passed through our hands. The objects touch on all facets of our past from the invention of money 2600 years ago to the present day. Research, digital visibility and cross-collection networking are intended to bring this to light.
In the summer of 2015, the exhibition of the Münzkabinett found its place again in the Georgenbau of the Dresden Residenzschloss (Royal Palace), where the oldest Dresden museum had its beginnings. The origins of the collection can be traced to George the Bearded, Duke of Saxony (1500-1539), after whom the building was named. Over the centuries, the Münzkabinett was expanded by Saxon Electors and kings, especially under August the Strong and his son August III: To date, 30,000 medals and coins from Saxony alone have been gathered together in the collection.
As early as the beginning of the eighteenth century, the Münzkabinett was among the most famous of its kind in Europe and developed into a centre of scientific research in Germany. After the collection had been moved to the Taschenbergpalais (Taschenberg Palace) in 1743, Elector Frederick Augustus III transferred it along with the library and the Antiquities Collection to the Japanisches Palais (Japanese Palace) in 1786, creating the new Museum Saxonicum. In 1877, the Münzkabinett moved back into the Residenzschloss before receiving a new home in the chancellery building of the former stable yard in 1911, where it remained until 1945.
After the Second World War, the coin collection was taken to Moscow by the Trophy Commission of the Red Army. It returned to Dresden in 1958 without the books and magazines that had been confiscated with it, and from then on, a selection could be seen in the Albertinum.
After the closing of the Albertinum in 2004 due to construction, the museum was restricted in its presentation to special exhibitions, but it now enjoys a permanent exhibition in the Residenzschloss: Extending over 350 square metres of space, 3,300 exhibits are presented today on fine blue fabric in ideal lighting conditions.
