THE NATIONAL NUMISMATIC MUSEUM OF GREECE

Here's a suggestion for Mr. Berlin: I recently returned from Athens, Greece. While there, I went on a hunt for the mansion that Heinrich von Schliemann built for his beloved Sophia, and to my amazement, upon finding it discovered it was now the national numismatic museum of Greece. So it was truly a tourism homerun for me.

Fabulous displays of ancient Greek and Roman coinage, as well as Byzantine and Medieval European coinage are housed in elegant glass and wood cabinets, conveniently angled for viewing. They are scattered throughout the mansion.

The amazing mosaics that Schliemann ordered made, as well as a few sculptures brought back from Troy and elsewhere are all there to be enjoyed as well. The museum was virtually deserted except for the guards that are posted in each room, mostly young, personable local college students.

I highly recommend carrying along a small flashlight, as some of the rooms are not brightly lit enough, or the lights reflect off the glass top of the cabinets. Photography is forbidden for security reasons.

The museum is in the very heart of Athens, a hop skip and jump away from the first modern Olympic stadium where the runner from Marathon collapsed and died, and from the Temple of Zeus, the Acropolis, and the dungeon where Socrates was forced to drink his hemlock cocktail. I can't wait to return.

To visit the museum web site (in English), see: www.nma.gr/index_en.htm

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: SUGGESTIONS FOR THE NUMISMATOURIST: FINLAND AND SERBIA (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v14n04a14.html)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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