Bank of Canada Museum, Financial education museum in downtown Ottawa, Canada
The Bank of Canada Museum occupies a space beneath the Bank of Canada plaza at Bank and Wellington Streets, near Parliament Hill. Its seven zones hold over 1,000 Canadian and world currency items, with gamified exhibits built around the idea "you are the economy." Visitors create a cartoon avatar on lobby touch screens and wear a wristband that links to the screens; the 2% Rocket lets them fly a ship to hit the Bank's 2% inflation target.
The Currency Museum of the Bank of Canada opened on December 5, 1980, in the Arthur Erickson-designed head office complex, displaying about 9,000 items from the National Currency Collection. It closed on July 2, 2013, for renovations and reopened as the Bank of Canada Museum on July 1, 2017, beneath the plaza at Bank and Wellington Streets.
The exhibits display historical objects such as shells once used as currency and banknotes made from tree bark, showing how different cultures developed their own forms of money.
The building is located in the downtown area and is easily accessible by public transport. Wheelchair-accessible facilities are available, and the exhibits are designed to be navigable for visitors with different needs.
The National Currency Collection holds more than 100,000 artifacts including coins, banknotes, and engraving tools from different periods and regions. This gathering represents one of the largest collections of its kind and documents the diverse history of money around the world.
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