Revolution, Progress, Imperialism… Nineteenth-Century Paper Money

From the assignats of revolutionary France and the treasury notes of the Kościuszko Uprising to shares, scrip that stood in for small change, and lottery tickets: the National Museum’s Numismatic Cabinet will show how paper entered everyday circulation in the 19th century. The exhibition at the museum’s Czapski branch, Piłsudskiego 12, opens on 23 October 2026 and runs until 11 April 2027.

National Museum in Krakow on the exhibition (the museum’s own English text):

The 19th century was an era of dynamic technological, economic and cultural change, which also had a significant impact on the development of money. The exhibition aims to shed light on the history and widespread adoption of paper money in various countries across Europe, Asia and the Americas, which became the basis for modern currencies.

What to expect

The exhibition grows out of the branch’s greatest strength. According to the museum, the objects come mainly from the National Museum’s Numismatic Cabinet, and many of them will be shown to the public for the first time. The curator is Barbara Zając. The museum has not yet said how many objects there will be, or which of the branch’s buildings (the palace or the pavilion) will house the show.

Five threads the museum announces on the exhibition page:

• Money of revolution - French assignats, which quickly lost their value, and Polish treasury notes of 1794, among the first such issues on Polish soil.
• The banknote as a picture of its age - the new graphic possibilities opened up by a breakthrough in paper-making in the middle of the century.
• The stock exchange - shares and bonds that financed major industrial ventures, railway building among them.
• Gold in the background - the shaping of national monetary systems and of the international gold standard.
• Substitute money and lotteries - vouchers and receipts issued by estates and businesses when small coins ran short, and lottery tickets.

Worth it if you are interested in economic history, coins and banknotes, or graphic design. If you were hoping for paintings, skip it and head straight for the Józef Czapski Pavilion in the same branch.

Context

Assignats were the paper money of revolutionary France, issued from 1789 to 1796. At first they were backed by property confiscated from the Church and the Crown, but repeated new issues meant that by 1796 they had lost almost all their value.

The exhibition’s second axis is gold. Under the classical gold standard, the value of money was tied to a fixed quantity of the metal; the major economies kept to it from the 1870s until the outbreak of war in 1914. In the German Empire the way was opened by the gold coinage law of 4 December 1871, which introduced the mark.

The exhibition will be held at the branch named after Emeryk Hutten-Czapski (1828-1896), whom the museum calls the most eminent Polish coin collector. In 1903 his family handed the palace and the collection to the National Museum. The museum’s numismatic collection now numbers more than 100,000 objects, about 2,500 of which are on permanent display in the palace.

Tickets and time

The exhibition page gives no price yet. The page for the curator’s tour refers to “the exhibition admission ticket” and lists 18 PLN regular, 14 PLN reduced. According to the National Museum’s price list , that is also the price of the Czapski branch ticket, which covers the palace and the pavilion: 36 PLN family, 1 PLN for pupils and students, free for children under 7. The museum does not say outright that it is one and the same ticket, so check at the desk or in the museum’s online shop .

According to the museum’s opening hours page , the branch opens Tuesday 10:00-18:00 (10 AM to 6 PM) and Wednesday to Sunday 10:00-16:00; closed Monday. The page gives a single schedule with no separate winter hours, and the museum announces changes to its schedule in its News section. The branch page puts last entry at 20 minutes before closing, while the museum’s general FAQ says 30 minutes. To be safe, go in by 15:30, or by 17:30 on Tuesday.

Tuesday is the National Museum’s free day for permanent exhibitions. The price list does not say whether this covers temporary shows, so if free entry matters, ask at the branch ticket desk (+48 12 433 58 43). On the free day, individual visitors must collect a free ticket from the desk before going in.

Common questions:

• Does a ticket from the Main Building, the Cloth Hall or the Czartoryski Museum get me in? According to the price list, each of them includes the permanent exhibitions at the Czapski branch. The list says nothing about temporary shows, so the ticket desk decides here too.
• Can I see the seafaring exhibition on the same visit? “Under Sails and Stars” runs in parallel until 7 February 2027 and is included in the branch ticket. The museum does not say whether one ticket will cover both temporary shows.
• Is the annual pass worth it? The 12-month National Museum pass (300 PLN regular, 200 PLN reduced) gives unlimited entry to every exhibition except the Czartoryski Museum. It only pays off if you visit many times a year.
• Is it wheelchair accessible? The palace entrance has high steps, managed with portable rails, and there is a lift inside. The pavilion is accessible on every level. As the museum does not say where the show will be, ask at the desk before you go.

Allow 30 to 45 minutes for the exhibition itself; that is an estimate, as the museum has not given the number of objects. With the coin galleries in the palace and the Józef Czapski Pavilion, budget about two hours. Best for collectors, history and economics students, and secondary-school pupils just learning about the French Revolution and the Kościuszko Uprising. Younger children will quickly tire of cases full of small print.

Events

• 25 October 2026, 12:00 - curator’s tour with Barbara Zając in the “W samo południe” (At Noon) Sunday tour series. Meet at the ticket desk in the Czapski Palace; included in the exhibition ticket (18 PLN, 14 PLN reduced), individual visitors only, at most four places per person. Booking opens on 19 October 2026 at 9:00: rezerwacja@mnk.pl or +48 12 433 57 44, extension 2 - event page (in Polish).
• 26 November 2026, 11:00-12:00 - tour for visitors aged 60 and over in the “Poranek w muzeum” (Morning at the Museum) series, led by the curator. 5 PLN per person, at most four places per person. Booking by phone only, from 16 November 2026 at 9:00: +48 12 433 57 44, extension 2 - event page (in Polish).

See also

• Under Sails and Stars - Seas, Ports and Sailors - the other temporary exhibition at the Czapski branch, on until 7 February 2027: early printed books, maps and atlases on seafaring from the 16th to the 18th century. The two shows will run side by side for more than three months.
• Born of Passion: Calculating Machines from the Walter Szrek Collection - arithmometers and abacuses at the Collegium Maius, collected by a designer of lottery systems; a good follow-up for anyone whom the 19th-century lottery tickets and accounts leave curious.
• Satire and Comics by Jan Matejko - the 19th century from its private side: Jan Matejko’s satirical drawings and caricatures in his own house at Floriańska 41, on until 31 January 2027.

Museum profile: Emeryk Hutten-Czapski Museum .