Skip to content
TravelHub
Madrid · Spain

Royal Mint of Spain: what's nearby, how to get there and when to go · 2026

Residents around the Salamanca district live alongside the high-security facility that prints their national identification cards and paper lottery tickets.

Royal Mint (Spain) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Map of places
About the place

Security measures surround the headquarters responsible for printing official paper assets and national documentation.

The Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre operates as a public corporation under the Ministry of Economy. The current entity emerged from the merger of the original mint and the stamp factory, consolidating state printing operations. Its facilities manufacture legal tender banknotes for the central bank alongside official identity cards and state lottery tickets.

Read on

Historical coinage in Spain once operated through decentralized workshops spread across multiple provincial cities before production concentrated into a single crown monopoly in Madrid. Modern operations expanded from circulating money to secure personal documentation, including national passports, identification cards, and state gaming slips.

Global media popularized the institution through dramatic heist fiction, creating high public curiosity around the site. Visitors arriving at the actual production building find strict security protocols rather than the broadcast set, as television productions used the exterior of the Spanish National Research Council instead.

Associations
  • Money HeistTelevision broadcasts used a different Madrid research building for exterior scenes.
  • Passport and ID manufacturingThe facility produces official state identification documents and security papers.
  • State lottery printingNational lottery tickets and official gaming cards originate from this plant.
  • Strict operational securityHeavy perimeter controls restrict casual public access to working production areas.
Facts
  • The corporation operates under the authority of the Ministry of Economy.
  • The entity formed through a merger between the national mint and the stamp factory.
  • Banknote manufacturing for the Bank of Spain takes place under central state control.
  • Television series depicting the facility used the Spanish National Research Council building for exterior shots.
Source: Wikipedia

Getting there and staying

Free stays with hostsSee hosts
In the city2,190hosts welcome guests
2 sources · As of November 3, 2026
Source: TravelHub · OurAirports (public domain)