The history of trade and economics

published 16 August 2019

960-Citeco-634 — Citco: a chic museum of finance in a former mansion

"Leave it the French to conceive a chic museum dedicated to finance," says Sara Lieberman in The Wall Street Journal. The Cit de l'conomie (or Citco en bref) opened this summer, in a building in the 17th arrondissement of Paris dating from 1882. With vaulted Gothic doorways and "intricate wooden wainscoting, the building itself is as genteel and old-school as you'd expect from a Parisian mansion turned bank turned museum."

The museum amenities, however, are "resolutely contemporary", says Martine Robert in French business daily Les Echos. There is a caf, shop and an auditorium. Many of the exhibits are also interactive, such as the airport-style scanner that teaches youabout production and globalisation, and a photo booth that allows you to print money with your face on it. Meanwhile, in the former bank vault, Charlie Chaplin'sThe Bank playson a loop. The museum hopes to educate up to 180,000 visitors a year on the finer points of finance, "making economics accessible for everyone".

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Chris Carter spent three glorious years reading English literature on the beautiful Welsh coast at Aberystwyth University. Graduating in 2005, he left for the University of York to specialise in Renaissance literature for his MA, before returning to his native Twickenham, in southwest London. He joined a Richmond-based recruitment company, where he worked with several clients, including the Queen’s bank, Coutts, as well as the super luxury, Dorchester-owned Coworth Park country house hotel, near Ascot in Berkshire.

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