The Royal Mint Experience, based in Llantrisant, South Wales will reopen its doors this Friday (31st July) with a host of new measures to ensure visitors have a safe, enjoyable experience.
The Royal Mint Experience offers a unique insight into 1,100 years of making coins and medals, as well as offering visitors the chance to peek inside the factory, and strike their own coin.
To accompany the reopening, The Royal Mint has revealed time-lapse footage of its curators reinstalling historic items for the public to enjoy – including a rare 1933 penny, and objects relating to former Master of the Mint, Sir Isaac Newton.
Visitors retuning from Friday will have the opportunity to strike their very own Iguanodon 50p, part of The Royal Mint’s ‘Dinosauria Collection’, and enter the secret world of spies, secret missions and money in the “Currency Undercover” temporary exhibition.
Clare MacLennan, Director of Commemorative Coin for The Royal Mint, said: “We can’t wait to open the doors to The Royal Mint Experience this week, and welcome visitors back for a safe, enjoyable day out. Our team has been working hard to ensure visitors have an unforgettable experience – exploring over 1,100 years of history, as well as being able to strike their own dinosaur coin and explore our new ‘Currency Undercover’ exhibition.”
During ‘lockdown’ The Royal Mint Experience was transformed into an emergency manufacturing site – making thousands of medical visors per day for the NHS. Production of the visors now takes place within The Royal Mint to allow the Experience to reopen.
Clare added: “During lockdown The Royal Mint Experience became the site of our visor production, and we’ve created a new section which explores the story behind the visors. To date, The Royal Mint has made over one million visors to help protect NHS employees.”
A number of measures have been implemented to ensure a safe environment for members of the public. The Royal Mint Experience will be open Friday to Sunday from 9:30am to 5pm, with tours running from 10am to 4:00pm. Each tour will accommodate up to seven people while the 2m rule is still in place.
Additional signage for a one-way system will be visible, with stickers on the floor and barriers put in place – as well as extra hand sanitizer stations.
Due to the reduced capacities, visitors are advised to book online prior to arriving.
