In the context of the European Heritage Days 2026 and the co-funded project DO.RE.A. (Documenting the Recent Acquisitions of the Numismatic Museum), the Numismatic Museum is organizing a temporary exhibition entitled “Two Sides – Many Stories”. The exhibition will take place at Iliou Melathron, in the temporary exhibition hall on the 2nd floor (Heinrich Schliemann Library). The opening ceremony will take place on September 25, 2026, at 17:00, and the exhibition will run through December 31, 2026. On the day of the opening, a hybrid workshop entitled “The Coin as Movable Cultural Heritage: Management, Protection, and Dissemination” will be held in the Hesperides Room on the 1st floor.

The exhibition “Two Sides – Many Stories” explores the coin beyond its primary function as a medium of exchange. Through selected exhibits dating from antiquity to modern times, it highlights the coin’s multifaceted nature and the ways in which these facets are interwoven with the social, political, ideological, cultural, and artistic context of each era.

The raw material and economic function of coins reveal access to natural resources, the organization of production, and shifts in monetary systems. Their imagery conveys messages of power, highlights political ambitions, and expresses the collective identities of communities and issuing authorities. At the same time, the circulation, imitation, and adoption of common coin types attest to economic contacts, historical ties, and relationships of political and cultural influence.

As a historical record, the coin is linked to events and figures that shaped different eras. As a work of art in miniature, it traces the evolution of human aesthetics across time and space, also reflecting the interplay between different forms of art. Its life, however, does not end when it ceases to serve as money. In modern Greek culture, coins were transformed into jewelry and amulets, becoming part of traditional attire, customs, and rites of passage.

Through the exhibition’s eight thematic sections, the two sides of the coin reveal a variety of narratives: of economy and power, identity and politics, historical events, art, and culture.