Foundation History

The Austrian Mint is the official and the only minting authority of the Republic of Austria. The company is located close to the centre at the Vienna Stadtpark in a Biedermeier building erected under Emperor Ferdinand I. from 1835 to 1837. Today it accommodates one of the most modern mints in the world.

The real hour of birth of the company goes back to more than 800 years ago. The foundation of the „Vienna Mint“ took place presumably in 1194, when the concern was to turn an enormous silver treasure into money. Many years before, Richard I of England, called Richard the Lionheart, and Duke Leopold V of Austria had participated in a crusade where they had broken into argument. When Richard was on his way back home from the Holy Land, disguised as a pilgrim, he was recognised and captured in the Vienna district of Erdberg – not far from the present–day Austrian Mint. The Babenberg Duke kept Richard the Lionhearted prisoner in the castle of Dürnstein at the Danube until the beginning of 1193 when he handed over his hostage to Emperor Henry VI. Before that Richard had to agree among other things with the payment of a ransom of 100.000 Cologne marks silver, from which Leopold was supposed to receive half. The value of these 100.000 Cologne marks is estimated today at more than 2 billion Euro. A part of this enormous treasure had to go under the striking hammer – and for this purpose the first Vienna minting place was founded out of which 800 years later the Austrian Mint emerged. Today – more than 800 years later – coins and strikes for Austria and the whole world originate from the Austrian Mint.