The Košice Gold Treasure

I visited The National Muzeum this afternoon to see The Košice Gold Treasure exhibit. It comprises 2,920 gold coins, three medals, a long Renaissance gold chain and a copper container which held the coins. Due to its size, the treasure is one of the most significant coin finds in Europe, not only in the sheer number of coin types represented but also in their rich geographical variety in that the treasure contains coins from all over the known Europe of the mid-1600's.

The total weight of the gold is 13 kilos but the historical importance of the treasure is immeasurable. The coins were found in 1935, in Košice, a city now in eastern Slovakia, while workers were replacing a building wall. Most of the coins date from the mid-1500's, with many from the 1600's. The most recent date was 1679, so it is felt that whom ever buried the cashe, did so around that time, in the reign of King Leopold I at a time of tremendous turmoil.

The exhibit was interesting and held in a new building of the Muzeum, the old parliament adjacent to the National Museum building, which up until this year had been the secretive, highly barricaded and guarded home of Radio Free Europe.