URSULA KAMPMANN'S NUMISMATIC VISIT TO JERUSALEM

Numismatics concentrates on quite a narrow space in Jerusalem. There is the Israel Museum, which accommodates beside its own collection the Israel Antiquities Authority as well. And only a fifteen minutes' walk from there you will find the exhibition of the Bank of Israel.

The Israel Museum is a building whose interior decoration impresses by attending to all wants a modern tourist might have. However, those who are going to the coin cabinet don't enter this building. Slightly staggered to the left there is an entrance guarded by a door-keeper which conducts to a labyrinth of narrow corridors lodging many various offices.

These rooms are small and cramped, full of computers technically not quite up to date. This, however, does not mean anything. I have seen many coin cabinets where supreme scientific results were achieved by using a minimum of equipment. And here it's the same. It is impossible to list all the numerous publications that spring from the numismatic department of the Israel Museum.

The coin exhibition's heart is a circular room dedicated exclusively to numismatics. There are on display only few, but gorgeous coins in order to raise the visitors' curiosity without boring the non-professional.

The coins are shown as precious treasures inserted at eye-level into the wall with a black background.

The Israel Museum was founded in 1965 and since then it has been Israel's national museum. Teddy Kollek, then Jerusalem's mayor, was the driving force behind this enormous collection. Kollek himself was an active coin collector, no wonder the numismatic department was at the centre of attention since the beginning. At this time Ya'akov Meshorer - many coin collectors might know him by his numerous books on Jewish numismatics - was appointed chief curator. In 1969 he established the numismatic department of the Israel Museum remaining his curator until 1993.

Then he was succeeded by Haim Gitler, who is still chief curator. He reigns over more than 25,000-30,000 coins among them one of the best collections of Jewish coins worldwide (comprising the Meir Rosenberg Collection and the Abraham Bromberg Collection) and what we call 'city coins', or issues of cities on the territory of modern Israel under Roman rule. In addition the Paul Balog Collection is situated in the Israel Museum, a comprehensive collection of Islamic coins with a large part of Mamluk issues.

To read the complete article, see: Numismatics in Jerusalem - Part 1 (www.coinsweekly.com/en/News/4?&id=1304)

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web