Bolivia’s most visited museum kicks off five-year restoration project

The Casa Nacional de Moneda, Bolivia's most visited museum, will commence a five-year restoration project next month. Located in the city center of Potosí, the Baroque-style building, constructed between 1759 and 1773, is renowned for its wooden coin-rolling machinery, numismatic collections, and colonial religious art.

Architect Salvador de Villa designed the mint, which functioned under both Spanish colonial rule and after Bolivia gained independence. Director Daniel Oropeza Alba describes the structure as a "jewel of 18th-century industrial architecture," emphasizing its stone, wood, iron, and tile construction. The building, occupying two city blocks, is managed by the Cultural Foundation of the Central Bank of Bolivia, with most of its 15,000-square-meter space encased in walls over a meter thick.

Roof repairs form the initial focus of the restoration, with around 60% of the roofs in critical condition due to a decade of neglect. The $513,000 cost for this phase, financed by the Inter-American Development Bank, is expected to last 150 days, during which the museum will remain open to visitors. The remaining restoration of the building will be funded by the Central Bank of Bolivia, with the entire five-year project set to conclude in the next five years.