Central Bank Money Museum

Port of Spain


Newly refurbished and with ferocious air-con that provides a welcome break from the downtown heat, the Money Museum is a surprisingly absorbing affair, with a solid history of currency from cowrie shells to hard cash, and all sorts of fascinating ephemera. You can feel the weight of a replica gold bar, check your banknotes are legit in an infrared reader, and hear the calls of the birds that appear on T&T's notes via a cute push-button display.

Kids will enjoy a simulated supermarket designed to highlight rising food prices: you fill a basket with plastic produce, from fish to fruit, then scan it over a barcode reader which tallies up what the final bill would be in 1971, 1981 or 2018. There's also a rotating display of the Central Bank's fine collection of works by local artists. Check out, too, the often witty local responses that liven up interactive boards asking riveting questions such as 'How Do We Grow Our Economy?'.


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