The World in Money

Can the world be explained through a single coin? Absolutely! The exhibition “The World in Money” at the Historical Museum Frankfurt offers a fresh perspective on Frankfurt as a hub of global connections from antiquity to the present day. Through the keyhole of financial-historical objects, the exbihition narrates global history from a local viewpoint – tangible, object-based, and surprisingly far-reaching. History is not depicted as a simplified tale of human progress but as a complex web of worldwide interconnections.

The link between local events and global phenomena unfolds through Frankfurt’s collection: A credit card tells a story about the environmental movement of the 1970s; a stock certificate reveals the dynamics of 19th-century colonial markets; a medal captures the global aftermath of a volcanic eruption in Indonesia. Colonial expansion, war, migration, and climate disasters are just as much part of the narrative as technological innovations and cultural shifts.