Vienna’s old town bustles with life from early afternoon until late evening – regardless of the day or season. Wide shopping promenades like Graben, Kärntner Straße, and Kohlmarkt intertwine with a maze of alleys and squares, forming microcosms rich in history. A simple turn down one of these paths can suddenly transport you decades, centuries, or even two millennia into the past.
I’ve learned that when visiting Innere Stadt – Vienna’s first district, encompassing the entire old town – it’s always worth bringing a camera. On one such walk, I came across a bronze relief commemorating the first coins minted in Austria’s capital – the so-called Viennese Pfennigs (German: Wiener Pfennige).
Commemorative Plaque
The bronze plaque, measuring approximately 60 × 100 cm, is mounted in the passage beneath the building at Hoher Markt 4. I photographed it from the entrance and later adjusted the perspective digitally to simulate standing directly in front of it.
At the center of the plaque is a circular scene depicting work in a medieval minting workshop. Above it, an inscription marks the 800th anniversary of Vienna’s first mint, established in 1194. The text is bilingual: German on the left, English on the right.
The scene features five craftsmen performing various coin-making tasks:
- Assayer – checks the weight and purity of the metal.
- Smelter – melts silver, sourced from items like chalices, bowls, or jewelry.
- Sheet hammerer – prepares minting sheets for coin blanks.
- Craftsman – his role is unclear; he sits at a table with scales and a vessel, using tongs to handle coin blanks.
- Coin striker – mints coins using a hammer and die.
The bilingual inscription reads:
To mark the 800th anniversary. In this area, Duke Leopold V founded Vienna’s first mint in 1194 to strike Viennese Pfennigs from the silver paid as ransom for King Richard the Lionheart. Münze Österreich 1994. (niem. Zur 800 Jahr Feier. In diesem Areal gründete Herzog Leopold V. 1994 die erste Prägestätte in Wien, um Wiener Pfenige aus dem Silber des Lösegeldes für König Richard Löwenherz zu prägen. Münze Österreich 1994).
The plaque was funded and unveiled by the Austrian Mint (German: Münze Österreich [1]) in 1994. The artist’s name is not listed, though initials can be seen near the left foot of one figure – possibly a signature.
The Viennese Mint
Following a dispute between Duke Leopold V of Austria and King Richard the Lionheart of England at Acre, Richard was captured near Vienna and a massive ransom was paid. As a result, Vienna’s first mint was established in 1194 at the site of today’s building at Hoher Markt 4. It was relocated from Krems an der Donau, where Krems Pfennigs [2] had been minted between 1130 and 1190.
Despite the heat of the smelting furnaces, the mint didn’t remain long at this location. According to a 1994 informational brochure [3] (issued as a folder with a 1000-shilling commemorative coin), its subsequent addresses were:
- from 1194: Hoher Markt 4,
- from 1397: Wollzeile,
- from 1752: Himmelpfortgasse,
- from 1835 to present: Am Heumarkt,
Viennese Pfennigs
The commemorative coin from 1994 now holds a market value far beyond the worth of its gold and silver content [4]. But what did the Pfennigs minted from 1194 actually look like?
Compared to today’s precisely crafted and aesthetically refined coins from the Austrian Mint, medieval Pfennigs appear modest [5]. Their design wasn’t their strongest feature, though they were consistent with the standards of their time across Europe.
Richard the Lionheart and Austria
Discovering the plaque at Hoher Markt 4 allowed me to symbolically conclude my series on the rivalry between Leopold and Richard. Many aspects remain – such as the details of the English king’s captivity or how the silver ransom was collected. For now, I plan only to make corrections if any part proves imprecise or contains factual errors.
External links
to German-language materials.
