Great Polish Economists Street

The first part of the exhibition – Great Polish Economists Street – is devoted to scholars whose economic concepts and scientific achievements contributed to the development of the Polish economy and allowed us to better understand the financial dimension of social relations. Narodowy Bank Polski has dedicated a collector coin series to the outstanding economists who have been displayed here. At the beginning of the street we meet the virtual Fryderyk Skarbek (1792–1866), who is often described as the father of Polish economic thought. Here we will have the opportunity to “speak” with him and learn his socio-economic views.

The second part – Bank Street – presents the organisational development of banks after Poland regained independence in 1918. A prominent place is given here to the history of the Post Office  Savings Bank (Pocztowa Kasa Oszczędności – PKO). It was established in 1919 and rapidly turned into Poland’s largest savings institution as the abbreviation PKO became the symbol of thrift. The projections of banking architecture show original buildings from Poland from the first half of the 20th century.

The exhibition is narrowed in a certain place – this is an artistic vision of the economic crisis. The necessity to go through the “bottleneck of the crisis”, which appeared unexpectedly on the wide street, is supposed to show that economic downturn is one of the elements of the world of economics. After the crisis there is a return to a state of economic equilibrium, which is always a stimulus for development.