{"id":30365,"date":"2018-05-30T20:57:57","date_gmt":"2018-05-30T18:57:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=30365"},"modified":"2018-05-30T20:57:57","modified_gmt":"2018-05-30T18:57:57","slug":"show-me-la-monnaie-the-paris-mint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/show-me-la-monnaie-the-paris-mint\/","title":{"rendered":"Show Me La Monnaie – The Paris Mint"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you are in Paris, se promener<\/strong> (go for a walk) and you will stumble upon a historical site before you can count to soixante-onze<\/a> (seventy-one). As long as le m\u00e9tro<\/strong> (the subway) is running, no matter how far you go, it will always be easy to make your way back home!<\/p>\n

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Image<\/a> from Pixabay. Licensed under CC0.<\/p><\/div>\n

One day while walking along la Seine<\/strong><\/a>, I came across un b\u00e2timent<\/strong> (a building) with something odd written on the side of its ancient walls:<\/p>\n

La Monnaie<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To any anglophone<\/a>, that sounds like it should mean:<\/p>\n

The Money<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Curious about what exactly un b\u00e2timent<\/strong> called “The Money<\/a>“<\/em> could be, I had to look it up after I made my way home. After quickly realizing that la monnaie<\/strong> <\/em>as a common noun means the currency<\/em> and not the money<\/em>, I refined my search to figure out what le b\u00e2timent<\/strong> I had seen was and discovered an ancient French government institution:<\/p>\n

La Monnaie de Paris<\/strong>
\nThe Paris Mint<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

La Monnaie de Paris<\/strong> is a part of l’administration fran\u00e7aise<\/strong> (the French administration\/government) and dates all the way to 864. En fait<\/strong> (in fact), it is the oldest continuously running mint in the world!<\/p>\n

After moving<\/a> several times during its first few centuries of existence, la Monnaie de Paris<\/strong> found its home on la rue de la Monnaie<\/strong><\/em> in 1358 and would stay there until the final change to its current address<\/a> in 1879. Throughout its entire history it has been the main source of French coins and it continues that tradition into today with the production of French euro coins.<\/p>\n

The current building is quite a bit newer than the institution itself and was created as a result of an 18th century architerture contest, much like l’op\u00e9ra Garnier<\/a>:<\/p>\n

H\u00f4tel de la Monnaie<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

L’h\u00f4tel de la Monnaie was designed in 1765 by the relative amateur Jacques-Denis Antoine<\/em> and built over the 10 years following the competition. Upon its completion, the new h\u00f4tel de la Monnaie<\/strong> earned l\u2019architecte<\/strong> a place in l’Acad\u00e9mie royale d’architecture<\/strong> (Royal Architecture Academy), but it was a somewhat controversial decision at the time. The extravagant neoclassical fa\u00e7ade<\/strong> of le b\u00e2timent<\/strong> was seen as a bit too much for une manufacture<\/strong> <\/em>(old word for une usine<\/strong>, a factory<\/em>).<\/p>\n

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Image by St\u00e9phane Goldstein<\/a> on Flickr. Licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.<\/p><\/div>\n

My ears may still confuse la monnaie<\/strong> (currency) <\/em>with l’argent<\/strong><\/a> (money)<\/em>, but I can now appreciate l’histoire<\/strong><\/a> (the history) behind what I first thought was simply a strangely named building!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

When you are in Paris, se promener (go for a walk) and you will stumble upon a historical site before you can count to soixante-onze (seventy-one). As long as le m\u00e9tro (the subway) is running, no matter how far you go, it will always be easy to make your way back home! One day while…<\/p>\n

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