The museum of counterfeit money "Double Bottom" has opened in Nizhny Novgorod.

      August 7, 2026 17:41 Culture and Leisure NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" - Inna Koroleva On August 7, the official opening of the museum "Double Bottom" took place in Nizhny Novgorod, attended by a correspondent from NIA "Nizhny Novgorod". The new cultural and educational space is dedicated to the history of counterfeit money and protection technologies.

      Money in safes and a detective format

      The main hall's exhibition is housed in authentic bank safes. They contain real and counterfeit coins, banknotes, and documents from different eras and countries. Visitors can compare originals with forgeries and trace how the "Technology Race" has evolved over the centuries. Counterfeiters have improved methods of imitating metal, paper, and inks, while the state has developed protection methods.

      Among the heroes of the exhibition is Ivan Orlov, a native of the Nizhny Novgorod region, the inventor of multicolor printing, which significantly complicated the counterfeiting of banknotes and securities.

      "Wherever the real appears, a forgery immediately arises. This is part of the economic nature of society," noted the museum's scientific director, cultural anthropologist Ivan Grinko. "It is important for us to show this process as a historical and social phenomenon."

      The museum is built in the format of an investigation: guests use magnifying glasses, microscopes, and detectors to study microtext, watermarks, and security threads, trying to determine the authenticity of the currency themselves.

      From fairs to neural networks

      Particular attention is paid to the Nizhny Novgorod context. As the museum creators reminded, in the 19th century, the Nizhny Novgorod Fair was one of the largest trading centers in Europe, and thus a zone of active money circulation, including counterfeit money.

      "Not far from here, during the dismantling of an old house, a laboratory was discovered where, it is believed, counterfeit coins were minted on an industrial scale," Ivan Grinko said. "Such stories help to look at the urban heritage in a new way."

      The exhibition is not limited to numismatics. The museum addresses issues of counterfeit brands, documents, works of art, as well as modern fakes—neural network images and synthesized voices.

      "The conversation about counterfeit money leads us to broader questions: what is authenticity, where is the line between the original and the copy, and what responsibility does a person bear for deception? This is a discussion about morality, economics, and technology," emphasized the author of the museum's concept, Nikita Sazonov.

      "The Secret Workshop" and educational mission

      One of the central elements of the museum is the intimate hall "The Secret Workshop" with an audio performance based on Maxim Gorky's play "The Counterfeit Coin." In the multimedia space, objects and documents from the early 20th century come to life, and a literary character guides the viewer through the footsteps of counterfeiters.

      The third hall—"Crime and Punishment"—is dedicated to responsibility for financial crimes. Workshops and educational programs are planned to be held here.

      According to project director Dmitry Zharsky, the museum has become part of a broader initiative "How People Work," aimed at popularizing economic knowledge.

      "We want to talk about complex things in simple words—about trust in the economy, about how to navigate the modern world and distinguish the genuine from the fake," he noted.

      The creators emphasize that the museum is designed for the widest audience—from schoolchildren to specialists. The format combines a serious scientific approach with elements of play, making the conversation about financial security accessible and engaging.

      It should be noted that last year, a money museum based on Lobachevsky NNSU opened in Nizhny Novgorod. We provided details here.

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