The Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo in co-operation with the Center for Calligraphic Studies at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and the Cairo Mint Treasury is hosting an exhibition ‘Journey of Money in Egypt through the Ages’. The exhibition will run until October 3.
‘The Journey’ spans 2,500 years, from the first coin minted during the Achaemenid era (550-330 BC) to the drachmas issued by the Ptolemies, moving on Byzantine and Roman gold dinars and copper money, the Sassanid Empire’s silver dirhams, to the Arabs up to modern times.
Egyptian coins are a pictorial record of the development of the art of calligraphy.
Advisor to the Minister of Finance Sherif Hazim said the exhibition preserves a historical memory of Egypt.
The coins depict events that underline the greatness of Egypt, Hazim said, adding that the ministry of finance and the Museum of Islamic Art have documented events and historical figures through currency in the light of unprecedented development projects that Egypt is witnessing now.
The Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo is the largest of its kind in the world with more than 100,000 artifacts from the Islamic eras, beginning with the Rightly-Guided Caliphs (632 AD) to the present day.
Mohamed Fathy, Adviser to the Head of the Public Treasury and Mint said the exhibition opens new horizons for cooperation between all state institutions to highlight Egypt’s achievements throughout the ages.
The exhibition is divided into two parts: the first is in co-operation with the Centre for Calligraphic Studies at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and comprises photographic tableaux of coin collections.
The second section showcases collections of newly minted cloned coins, in cooperation with the mint treasury.
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