The Museu da Moeda (Money Museum) occupies a handsome arcaded building on Praça 25 de Junho that was originally the Standard Bank's Maputo branch. The collection traces money used in this part of southern Africa from the cowrie shell and Maria Theresa thaler through the colonial escudo to the current metical, with a particular focus on the mintage of Lourenço Marques and the wartime emergency issues of the 1970s.
The building itself, with its tiled floors, vaulted ceilings and original teller counters, is at least as interesting as the coins. The museum is small — half an hour will do it — but it sits in the heart of the Baixa and makes a useful pairing with the cathedral and the Iron House.