The Week Junior UK - Issue 189, 27 July 2019

27 July 2019•The Week Junior 13

What can the public see?

The BankofEnglandMuseum’s newexhibition,

325Years, 325 Objects,isnowopen to thepublic.The

museum’s curator,Jennifer Adam,explained toThe

Week Juniorthat choosing just 325itemshadbeen

tricky.“Wehave probably around 40,000–50,

ems in ourcollection, which include small things

ikecoins and banknotes,”she said, “but alsoalot

of things that we haven’t displayed before.”Adam

and her team managed to find objects such as

pictures of staff throughout the bank’shistory and

sketches of banknote designs.

Other highlights from theexhibition include

omanrelics found during archaeological (the study

of human activity in the past) digs on Threadneedle

Street, some of the very first banknotes ever issued

by the Bank of England (including one from 26 June

1702),asealed packetcontainingakey to the door

of the Bullion Office(bullion means large quantities

of gold) from 1784, handmade brickstaken from the

original bank building, hand-paintedwall tiles and

fakebanknotes from the 19th and 20thcenturies,

along with the equipment used to print them.

Fortheexhibition, the bank asked artist Justine

Smith to createasculptureofabouquet featuring

wild British flowers made from £50 notes. The

finished pieceofart will stand inasilverwater jug

made in 1694. Visiting the Bank of England museum

and the newexhibition is free and it is open on

weekdays until 15 May 2020. Find out moreat

tinyurl.com/TWJ-

Abouquet

madeofmoney.

Aspecialbank

vaultlock.

It’sthoughtthatthebank’s

vaultshold400,000barsofgold.

A100millionpoundnote–

whichneverleavestheBank.

KEYTO

SUCCESS

Thekey

stothe

vaults ar

emoret

han

30 centimetres

long.