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.
The Monnaie de Paris 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.
