A history of Italy in MUDEM's first virtual exhibition
1,000 times welcome!
'Le Mille Lire', the first virtual exhibition curated by the Money Museum, opens on 27 March and will be available free of charge on the MUDEM website.
Ahead of its opening at the new premises, MUDEM is launching a virtual reality tour that recreates the experience of a traditional museum, thanks to technology borrowed from online gaming. This is a first for a central bank museum.
The focus of this exhibition is the history of one of the most iconic banknotes issued in Italy, taking us from monetary unification to the introduction of the euro. Production of Banca d'Italia's 1,000 lira notes spans the entire period from 1897 to 2001, but banknotes of that denomination were issued by the Bank's predecessors before it was founded. Before the two world wars reduced its purchasing power, undermining its status, it had long stood as a symbol of prosperity. So iconic was it that it inspired popular songs as well as more high-brow songwriters, and these songs remain etched in the memory of many Italians.
The 19 digitally reproduced banknotes, the period documents, statistics and artworks on display in the five virtual rooms show us how Italian self-perception and identity has changed over time. As we move from 19th-century representations of agricultural Italy to the Futurist, mechanized Italy of the early 20th century, travel through the decades of the Italian Republic and compare them with the present day, we can see this identity continuing to shift.
Immersed in 3D environments modelled on some of the most beautiful and prestigious reception rooms in Banca d'Italia's headquarters, visitors can select the objects on display and read information sheets covering the economic and financial, historical, artistic and social background behind the banknotes issued by the Royal Finances of Turin through to the Mille lire that circulated until 2001.
Le Mille Lire is a virtual exhibition designed for the generations that can remember using these banknotes and to lead younger visitors into a discovery of the past.
The virtual exhibition also features digital reproductions of works of art from Banca d'Italia's collections, including masterpieces by Balla, Segantini, Fattori and Spadini, enabling the public to experience the Bank's artistic as well as its numismatic heritage.
Start your visit
(The exhibition is currently only available in Italian)
