The succes story of the Ghent coin trail
25 June 2012
Ghent Cointrail
In June 2011 the first phase of the construction of the coin trail has been completed. The coin trail aims to visualize the medieval trade route from Bruges to Cologne, that crossed the historical centre of Ghent. 216 coins, grouped in 18 clusters, are now laid out in the pavement, for the most part at the Korenmarkt and at the Donkersteeg. Both the start point of the coin trail at the Grasbrug and the finish point at the Brabantpoort have already been realized, too.
MuntenrouteWithin the next few years, 784 more coins will be laid out. When finished, the entire trail will count no less than 1000 coins.
Each coin, made of robust aluminium bronze, has a different depiction, which is first engraved and then etched. These depictions are based on historical images or texts related to the local history and heritage. Thus each cluster of coins illustrates a particular historic theme, site or monument.
Although the trail is not finished yet, the residents and visitors of Ghent are already excited by the coins. From July till September 2011 one thousand brochures with city maps of the coin trail have been distributed on-demand. Currently only a Dutch version is available, which you can download here.
In addition, hundreds of smartphone and tablet users have visited the mobile website of the coin trail: http://m.gent.be/mtr. By scanning the QR-codes on the ID-coins (one for each cluster), they got access to the stories behind the coins (currently in Dutch only) and to the original historical images used for the engravings. The use of QR-codes engraved in bronze is an innovative IT-tool which was specially developed for mobile interpretation of the coin trail within the framework of the PORTICO project.
To learn more about the coin trail you can watch here a short film made by the regional television company AVS/Stadstv in August 2011 (in Dutch).