We were used to being able to reach any place in the world easily within 24 hours. Then the Covid-19 pandemic hit and travelling became something special again. As little as a century ago, however, travelling often took months and was frequently dangerous.

This exhibition portrays sixteen people from the course of history, or rather: it shows the contents of their wallets. Cleopatra and Marco Polo, El Greco, Ida Pfeiffer and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry tell us about their travels and discoveries and reveal coins that were in use in other parts of the world during their times.

Coins have always been an indispensable but often invisible travel companion. Like time travellers, they have often survived centuries, sometimes even millennia, without damage and are now considered historical documents that bear witness to past cultures.