The Bank Museum

When I visited the Palace of Fine Arts on Tuesday, I noticed these large banners advertising a relatively new museum... The Museum of the Bank of Mexico.

So, the next day I returned to visit this museum which is located in the original headquarters of the bank.  The "Banco de México" is the nation's central bank, a government institution which issues all currency and controls monetary policy.  It is not to be confused with Banamex (formerly the "Banco Nacional de México") which is a private, commercial bank.

The building which was the original headquarters of the bank is an elegant structure that was built between 1903 and 1905, during the last years of the "Porfiriato", the decades-long dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz.  Like most of the buildings of that era, it is an ornate mixture of architectural styles... from ancient Greek to Italian Renaissance.  It originally housed the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York.

In the wake of the Mexican Revolution that overthrew the Díaz dictatorship, the Constitution of 1917 mandated the establishment of a central bank.  In 1927 the former insurance building was reinaugurated as the seat of the new "Banco de México".  

The interior was completely remodeled in the art deco style that was then in vogue.  It features black marble pillars and art deco ceiling panels.

The upstairs has temporary art exhibits... the current exhibit of contemporary art did not interest me much.  The ground floor contains a numismatic museum with examples of Mexico's banknotes and coins through the years.

It was interesting to look at currency that I remember from my many years of travel in Mexico.  The bills below date from the 1970s when I made my first trip to Mexico.  Back then the exchange rate, if I recall correctly, was 12.5 pesos to the U.S. dollar.

Then in the 1980s the peso was devalued.  I remember the days when it was common to carry around 10,000 and 50,000 peso notes.  The 10,000 peso bill was worth about three U.S. dollars!

Then in 1993, the currency was completely revamped, and three zeros were deleted.  At first, to avoid confusion, the bills said "Nuevos pesos"... "New Pesos".

So, was the museum worth a visit?  I have to say, "Not really."  The admission is free, but first you have to go to another door and get a ticket.  Then you have to go through security... I had to remove my belt, my wallet, my keys, my change purse, and my watch.  But what was really annoying was that I had to go through the same process when I left the building!  All descriptive material is in Spanish only, so if you don't speak the language you won't know what you are looking at.  The art deco interior is beautiful, but I'm not sure that it is worth the hassle.