Numismatic Museum of Athens

Numismatic Museum of Athens (© Copyright: Baloncici)

Numismatic Museum of Athens

The Numismatic Museum was established in 1834 and is one of the oldest museums in Greece, the few of its kind in the world and singular in the Balkans. It holds over 500,000 acquisitions – mostly coins as well as medals and gems – dated from the 14th Century until today.

The Iliou Melathron (The Palace of Ilion or Iliou Melathron), of Heinrich Schliemann, which houses the Numismatic Museum, is a work of the German architect Ernst Ziller in the style of buildings of the Italian Renaissance adapted to the neoclassical spirit of the late 19th Century. The building was inaugurated on the 10th of January, 1881. It is one of the few buildings of that era that remain intact and standing in Athens.

The walls inside are decorated with murals copying Pompeian themes and the findings of Schliemann at Troy and Mycenae. The Numismatic Museum organizes many activities, such as scientific and informative publications, cycles of educational lectures, lectures, symposia, periodical exhibitions and educational programs. Furthermore, there is an amazingly valuable archive of documents.

In 1867, the Numismatic Museum was officially defined by law as an annex to the National Library.