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Monnaie de Paris
Founded in 864, Monnaie de Paris is France's longest standing institution and the oldest enterprise in the world. It fulfils the public service mission of striking the euro coins in circulation for France, as well as coins for other foreign currencies. For twelve centuries, it has cultivated a venerable tradition of metalworking arts and crafts. It was Paris first industrial establishment and is the last in operation today. Artistic pieces are still produced at its historic Quai de Conti manufacture.
Attached to the French ministry for the economy, finances and industry since 1796, Monnaie de Paris became an Etablissement public industriel et commercial (EPIC, an official designation for state-funded industrial and commercial institutions) in January 2007.
1,150 YEARS OF HISTORY
France's longest standing institution and the oldest enterprise in the world, Monnaie de Paris was officially founded in 864 with the Edict of Pistres. In the Edict, Charles II - known as Charles the Bald - decreed the creation of a coining workshop in Paris, attached to the crown, in addition to eight further workshops in the provinces. The Parisian workshop, the only one in France in continuous operation since it opened, gained precedence under the Ancien Régime as the country's foremost mint.
Following the partition of the Carolingian Empire - made official in 843 by the Treaty of Verdun - imperial power waned significantly. At the time, numerous coin striking workshops were scattered right across the territory that constitutes modern-day France. One of the three heirs of Charlemagne, Charles II - known as Charles the Bald - used the reorganisation of minting to bring back territorial unity and identity. With the promulgation of the Edict of Pistres (25 June 864), he asserted his power and created 10 coining workshops, including Monnaie de Paris. From the reign of Philip Augustus onwards (Philip II, 1180-1223) and especially during that of Saint Louis (Louis IX, 1226-1270), the royal mint gained ground over feudal dependencies, limiting the privileges of local lords.
For several centuries, the number of royal workshops varied.
Some were repeatedly closed and reopened due to financial crises, while the needs of the king (financing wars, etc) and new territories annexed by the crown also caused frequent fluctuations in how many were active at any one time.
At the end of 1689 there were 22 in total, yet barely two years later this number had risen to 27.
The regional workshops gradually disappeared and in 1870 only three remained: Bordeaux, Paris and Strasbourg. By 1878, only Monnaie de Paris was still in operation.