Numismatics Colloquium: Numismatik und Münzkabinette im Spiegel der Jahrhunderte

“I have been involved in cataloguing my coins…” – under this title, the colloquium ‘Numismatics and Coin Collections Through the Centuries’, taking place from 8 to 10 October 2026, will examine the development of numismatic collections and their scholarly cataloguing. 

The Gotha Research Centre looks back on a distinctive numismatic tradition. When Duke Ernst I the Pious of Saxe-Gotha (1601–1675) took up residence at Friedenstein Castle in 1646, he brought with him from Weimar to Gotha, alongside other art treasures, 516 coins and medals from the Ernestine family’s collection. In doing so, he laid the foundation for a collection that had already attained European significance by the early 18th century.

The Gotha Coin Cabinet underwent a significant expansion under Ernst’s grandson, Frederick II of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1676–1732). In 1712, the Duke – a keen collector of coins and medals – acquired the famous collection of Prince Anton Günther II of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen in Arnstadt (1653–1716), which comprised more than 18,000 coins and medals. Subsequently, a prestigious coin cabinet was established at Friedenstein Castle.

To this day, the Gotha Numismatic Cabinet enjoys an international reputation. With around 145,000 coins, medals and other numismatic certificates, it ranks among the most significant collections of its kind in Germany and is a key resource for international research and publication projects.

The colloquium will explore various aspects of this collection’s history. The lectures will address, amongst other things, the significance of court coin cabinets, as well as the cataloguing, research and publication of coin and medal collections in the context of historical change. At the same time, attention will be turned to current developments and the prospects for numismatics in the digital age.

The event has been organised, on the one hand, to mark the successful progress made in digitising the Gotha Numismatic Cabinet as part of the Gotha Transdigital 2027 project. Secondly, the colloquium marks the upcoming retirement in December 2026 of Uta Wallenstein, the long-standing head and research employee of the Gotha Coin Cabinet, providing an opportunity to place her many years of work and the development of the collection within a broader historical and academic context.

Colloquium ‘Numismatik und Münzkabinette im Spiegel der Jahrhunderte’
8–10 October 2026
Lecture Theatre of the Gotha Research Centre, University of Erfurt
Schlossberg 2, Gotha