ALPHA BANK – CULTURE store

A photographic exhibition of ancient coins from the Alpha Bank Collection entitled “Athenian Owls” is presented at the ALPHA BANK – CULTURE store. The exhibition presents the history of the entire silver coinage of Athens, starting from the first coins minted around the mid-6th Century BC. Particular reference is made to the Athenian decadrachm, one of the most important coins of antiquity, which depicts the same iconographic types as those of the tetradrachms, though with some essential differences.

The interactive system Stater 360², which allows the public to become familiar with selected ancient coins from the Alpha Bank Numismatic Collection, is in operation at the ALPHA BANK – CULTURE store, in Athens since July 2016.

Stater 360², original worldwide, consists mainly of a rotating metal disc on which twenty coins are represented. The user can view all of them at high-resolution magnification, choosing one coin at a time, examine the coin under a magnifying glass, read its description and use the map to locate the city that issued it, by simply touching the coin. On the nearby display, the user can also read the history of the issuing authority. To see the reverse side of the coin, the user can just flip the disc over.

The interactive system Stater 360² was presented to the public for the first time in the context of the exhibition “The Europe of Greece: Colonies and Coins from the Alpha Bank Collection” at the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki. The system’s concept, design, core technology as well as the display construction aesthetics have been implemented by the Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH) at the request of the Alpha Bank Numismatic Collection.