The Royal Mint of Spain (, ) is the national

mint Mint or The Mint may refer to: Plants * Lamiaceae, the mint family ** ''Mentha'', the genus of plants commonly known as "mint" Coins and collectibles * Mint (facility), a facility for manufacturing coins * Mint condition, a state of like-new ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. The FNMT-RCM is a public corporation that is attached to the Ministry of Economy.

History

There were several public and private mints in Spain until Philip V, the first Borbòn King of Spain, decided in the 18th century to make minting coinage a State monopoly. During the reign of

Isabella II Isabella II (, María Isabel Luisa de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias; 10 October 1830 – 9 April 1904) was Queen of Spain from 1833 until her deposition in 1868. She is the only queen regnant in the history of unified Spain. Isabella wa ...

there were seven public mints, located in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

Pamplona Pamplona (; ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Navarre, Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. Lying at near above sea level, the city (and the wider Cuenca de Pamplona) is located on the flood pl ...

, Jubia,

Segovia Segovia ( , , ) is a city in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia. Segovia is located in the Meseta central, Inner Pl ...

and

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

(in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

), and each one had its own cypher and signs. When the peseta became the national currency in 1869, only the Royal Mint in Madrid was in operation. In 1893 the Mint (''Casa de la Moneda'') and the Stamp Factory (''Fábrica del Sello''), which so far had been two different establishments sharing a building in

Plaza de Colón Plaza de Colón (; ) is located in the encounter of Chamberí, Centro and Salamanca districts of Madrid, Spain. This plaza and its fountain commemorate the explorer Christopher Columbus, whose name in Spanish was Cristóbal Colón. Monuments ...

, merged to create the ''Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre''. Banknote production for the

Bank of Spain The Bank of Spain (, ) is the national central bank for Spain within the Eurosystem. It was the Spanish central bank from 1874 to 1998, issuing the peseta. Since 2014, it has also been Spain's national competent authority within European Banki ...

began in 1940. A new building came into use in 1964, in which the

passport A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that certifies a person's identity and nationality for international travel. A passport allows its bearer to enter and temporarily reside in a foreign country, access local aid ...

and national identification card were produced. Later,

bingo Bingo or B-I-N-G-O may refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * Bingo, a game using a printed card of numbers ** Bingo (British version), a game using a printed card of 15 numbers on three lines; most commonly played in the UK and Ireland ** B ...

cards and tickets for the state-run

lottery A lottery (or lotto) is a form of gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find som ...

were printed.

Royal Mint today

Two plants, in Madrid and

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populous municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of th ...

, are currently operational. Burgos is the location of the paper mill where banknotes are printed. Some of the FNMT-RCM's product lines are

ISO 9001 The ISO 9000 family is a set of international standards for quality management systems. It was developed in March 1987 by International Organization for Standardization. The goal of these standards is to help organizations ensure that they meet ...

certified. On 2 November 2015 Imprenta de Billetes, S.A. (IMBISA) was incorporated, whose corporate purpose is the production of

Euro banknotes Banknotes of the euro, the common currency of the eurozone (euro area members), have been in circulation since the first series (also called ''ES1'') was issued in 2002. They are issued by the national central banks of the Eurosystem or the Eur ...

, following its official inscription in the Spanish Companies' Registry. The company, which has capital totalling €50 million, is 80%-owned by the

Banco de España The Bank of Spain (, ) is the national central bank for Spain within the Eurosystem. It was the Spanish central bank from 1874 to 1998, issuing the peseta. Since 2014, it has also been Spain's national competent authority within European Banki ...

and 20%-owned by FNMT-RCM (the Spanish Royal Mint), which may maintain this stake until 31 December 2017. The company was created in response to the need to adapt to the legal framework for euro banknote production. This follows the approval by the

European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central component of the Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's Big Four (banking)#International ...

on 13 November 2014 of a new guideline that solely permits two alternatives for producing the national quota of euro banknotes: doing so at a printing works owned by the issuing central bank, or through a competitive tender aimed at external printers. The Spanish authorities chose the first option. Law 36/2014, of 26 December 2014, on the 2015 State Budget amended the Law of Autonomy of the Banco de España so that the central bank could entrust its euro banknote production quota to a commercial law firm in which it held a majority stake.

Museums

The mint has a permanent museum exhibition, on the third floor of its headquarters building, called the Museo Casa de la Moneda. The historic mint in Segovia also houses a

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

In popular culture

The mint is the focus of the Spanish television series '' Money Heist (La casa de papel)'', although the exterior of the Mint building in the series is that of the building of the

Spanish National Research Council The Spanish National Research Council (, CSIC) is the largest public institution dedicated to research in Spain and the third largest in Europe. Its main objective is to develop and promote research that will help bring about scientific and techn ...

References

External links

Royal Mint of Spain, in English
{{DEFAULTSORT:Royal Mint Spain 1893 establishments in Spain

Mint Mint or The Mint may refer to: Plants * Lamiaceae, the mint family ** ''Mentha'', the genus of plants commonly known as "mint" Coins and collectibles * Mint (facility), a facility for manufacturing coins * Mint condition, a state of like-new ...