On Tuesday the 16th February 2016 the students from the seminary Financial Literacy took part in an excursion to the Czech National Bank in Prague.
We gathered at 7:40 am at the Central Station in Pilsen. We went to Prague by train and we played various games on the way, it was so much fun. We arrived in Prague at 9:30 am and our tour started at 11 am, so we had still a lot of time for sightseeing. Most of us walked along the Wenceslas Square and visited some shops. Before entering the bank we saw the famous Powder Gate, which is situated just opposite the CNB.
The tour took about 2 hours. At the beginning we saw 2 films about history and functions of the Czech National Bank. Then we went to the original safe, which is nowadays used only for purposes of the exhibition. The exposition was extremely huge there were 65 showcases with absolutely unique exhibits. We found out everything about evolution of money, since flints to digital money and microchips. We could try to expose the paper money as the protective components were visible. We heard about 5 degrees of forging money. We also could look at some forgeries and try to recognize them from valid banknotes. In the end we were asked 3 questions and the students who knew the correct answers won interesting prizes: 60 000 Czech crowns torn and compressed into a briquette and a book about the CNB.
We came back to Pilsen at 3 pm. Despite the freezing weather we enjoyed this trip so much, we spent most of the time in the bank or in the train anyway. We had a great time there the excursion was very inspiring and instructive. I was glad to be there.
Hana Sadílková, kvarta A
