An interior courtyard at the National Mint mysteriously features a large carved face hung there in 1865 by Frenchman Eugenio Martin Moulan who worked at the mint carving dies for coins and medals. The grape-festooned headband suggests to many that the mask is Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and intoxication. Other possibilities are Pachamama also known as Mother Earth to the indigenous peoples of the Andes for whom a crown of grapes is a symbol of abundance and economy; Incan Diego Hualpa who allegedly was the person who discovered that there was silver here; a former director of the mint who was very strict and didn’t like the artist; Manuel Isidoro Belzu who was president of Bolivia from 1848 to 1855; or simply a caricature mocking the greed of the Spanish conquistadors. Regardless, the face is known as the mascarón and has become a town icon appearing in advertising and on souvenirs.

The National Mint was built between 1753 and 1773 and takes up an entire city block. Coins were minted here up until 1953. (Today Bolivian coins are made in Canada and Chile using cheaper materials than silver.)

Potosí (elev. 4,090m/13,420ft) [for comparison: Lhasa, Tibet, at 3,658m/12,001ft] was founded in 1545 as a mining town at the foot of Rich Hill (Cerro Rico), the world’s largest silver deposit. An estimated 60% of all silver mined in the world during the second half of the 16th century came from Potosí which was reputed to be the world’s largest industrial complex at the time. Its population eventually exceeded 200,000 people, making it one of the largest cities in the world. Most of the mining and smelting (using mercury) was done by forced labor, both indigenous people and African slaves. As many as 8 million workers are estimated to have died between 1545 and 1825. Output began to decline in the early 19th century. By the 1890s, low silver prices prompted a shift to mining tin. Growing demand for tin this century by the electronics industry has helped the local economy. Silver extraction continues on a small scale.

Miguel de Cervantes’ novel “Don Quixote” describes Potosí as a land of “extraordinary richness” (chapter 71 in the second volume which was published in 1615).

The City of Potosí was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.

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