Numismatic Museum shows off its recent acquisitions
Though it has been open to the public for several months now, a fascinating coin collection titled «Acquisitions 1994-2000,» which sheds light on the more recently acquired items at the Numismatic Museum of Athens (12 Panepistimiou), was not officially opened until last Tuesday night, timed to coincide with a farewell ceremony for the museum’s long-serving director. Steering clear of emotion, Ioannis Touratsoglou, who has retired after what is widely considered a successful tenure, bid farewell in a buoyant mood. During his high-spirited farewell speech, Touratsoglou highlighted the museum’s progress, focusing on the installation of state-of-the-art computer systems for electronic exhibiting and data storing. Dubbing them «dreamers of the unobtainable,» Touratsoglou paid homage to the various quixotic and historic figures whose donations have, over time, contributed to the museum’s vast collection. Dating back to the ancient Hellenic world, it includes coins from the Roman and Byzantium empires, as well as the Middle Ages. Prominent donors and benefactors of the past include Harilaos Trikoupis, a prime minister in the late 19th century, entrepreneurs such as Pericles Zarifis, Leonidas Zarifis, the Zosimas brothers from Epirus, whose significant contribution numbers some 20,000 items, and Countess Louise Riancourt. The museum is housed at the downtown «Iliou Melathron,» one of the most eminent buildings in the center of Athens, originally the residence of the late 19th-century German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, whose vast coin collection is exhibited in a separate room, Schliemann Hall. The building, which was inaugurated in 1881, was designed by Schliemann’s compatriot, Ernst Ziller. The «Acquisitions 1994-2000» exhibition serves to highlight the more recent additions to the museum’s collection by various individuals – prominent and not – organizations, agencies, and state agencies. Until now, these newer contributions have received little publicity. Touratsoglou described the museum’s recently installed facilities, which include a number of touch screens on which exhibits are digitally presented, as well as the recording in digitalized form of all the museum’s possessions – library books, coin hoards, groups of coins from excavations, groups of conserved coins, groups of coins by year of acquisition, etc. – as a novel educational tool that is as «well structured as an academic account.» The museum’s electronic library, Touratsoglou remarked, was «the first of its kind for a Greek museum,» one that is filled with «numerous topics that already greatly exceed the exhibited themes, those available, and, partly, those anticipated.» Touratsoglou also added a reminder that the museum’s second floor, which is currently closed, should eventually begin operating. The museum’s computerized archive for visitors is divided into several categories that cover topics such as coins of ancient Greece, coin design, numismatics as a science, as well as historical facts about the museum’s donors and founders. Also stored away is detailed information on the building’s history, as well as other activities that are also organized by the Numismatic Museum, such as publishing, organization of various related events, and its contributions to exhibitions held elsewhere. The museum also intends to set up an electronic Museum Shop for on-line orders. A visit to the museum will quickly convince viewers of the institute’s very modern approach to museum management.
