Vienna, Austria

Place Vienna, Austria
Dates of operation 1194-date
Official website https://www.muenzeoesterreich.at/
See also Nomisma (vienna)
Wikidata (Q455901)

The Austrian Mint is located in Vienna and is responsible for minting Austrian coins. The mint also supplies circulation coins and blanks to many other countries across the world. The Austrian Mint carries out both the design and stamping of the coins it produces.

In 1194, Duke Leopold V of Austria was paid 15 tonnes of silver by Richard the Lionheart. On his way back from the crusades Richard had been captured and imprisoned by the Duke in retaliation for a previous insult; he paid the bounty to secure his release from prison. Leopold decided to strike coins from the silver, marking the beginning of the history of minting in Vienna (though the Vienna Mint was not actually mentioned in historical documents for another 200 years).

The mint was originally located near the Hoher Markt, then relocated to the Wollzeile. Subsequently, it was housed in Prince Eugene’s winter palace in Himmelpfortgasse, before finally moving to its present home at Heumarkt, central Vienna, in the 19th century.

Though other mints were established across Austria in the past, the Vienna Principal Mint became the sole mint when the Republic of Austria was formed in 1919. The mint changed its name to Münze Österreich ("Austrian Mint") as it became a subsidiary of Oesterreichische Nationalbank in 1989.

(Source: Wikipedia.org)

Production of this mint

See the 1213 coins
See the 52 medals and tokens