Tremissis of Charlemagne, c. 773 AD

When road workers blew up a boulder on the road to Ilanz they were building in the spring of 1904, a treasure trove of gold and silver coins as well as jewellery was found in a crevice. It quickly transpired that this was a most extraordinary find from the Early Middle Ages. The treasure consisted not only of coins from various European countries but from as far as Northern Africa, proving how widespread commercial enterprises had grown at the time. The exhibited gold coin from Chur is the most outstanding piece from this treasure trove. It is the single oldest coin produced in Grisons – minted in the name of the Emperor Charlemagne.

After the Romans withdrew from Raetia in the fifth century, influence from the Frankish North began to grow. Early Church buildings bear witness to the fact that Christianity was now spreading. For three hundred years the bishops of the Province’s capital came exclusively from Chur-Raetia’s most eminent families – known in German as the Zacconen and the Viktoriden, respectively.