From Drachms to Euros: A History of Spain in Coins

The most important coins that have circulated in what is now Spain offer a survey of its history from a different perspective. Twenty-five centuries of cultures, kingdoms, empires, conquests, discoveries, plans, inventions, successes, failures, art, identity, wealth and poverty… in the palm of one’s hand.

Since they were first invented around 600 BC in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), coins have been necessary tools for daily life, large and small businesses, state planning and the good image of governments and nations. They constitute a very significant part of the surviving material remains of our past and contain vital information for researching, knowing and understanding that history.

Above all, they are a marvel of design: an indisputably successful combination of form and function, making ancient coins seem as familiar to us as our immediately recognisable euros. Times change, and reales and pesetas are forgotten, but money still makes the world go round, and coins continue to turn with it.