Prague, April 5 (CTK) – An exhibition entitled “90 Years with the State Printing Works of Securities,” opening in the Strahov Monastery on Friday, presents the State Printing Works (STC) production history as well as artefacts that were not put to circulation, STC general director Tomas Hebelka told journalists on Thursday.
The exhibition, which is situated in the monastery’s Winter Refectory, is unique in its scale and complexity, surpassing any of the firm’s previous exhibitions, STC technical designer Martin Srb said.
Experts deem the 1930’s drafts of the one-thousand and five-thousand-crown notes by Max Svabinsky to be some of the most precious exhibits. These banknotes were not put into circulation due to the break-out of WWII.
Some of the engravings of banknotes have so far been hidden in a safe.
A unique engine-turning machine used during the printing of banknotes is also on display.
Habelka also highlighted that the firm was not just producing money as 64 percent of its revenues is made up by the printing of documents.
According to Deputy Interior Minister Petr Mlsna, the STC has produced over 24.6 million of IDs and 11.4 million of passports since 2001.
It produced over 2.7 billion banknotes for the Czech National Bank (CNB), Josef Duchacek from the CNB said.
If placed in a row, the banknotes would form a line over 400,000 kilometres long, which equals to the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
