Odessa Numismatics Museum

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The Odessa Numismatics Museum is a currency museum in Ukraine. The museum preserves and exhibits ancient relics from the Northern Black Sea Region and Rus-Ukraine.

The Museum has two branches located in the centre of Odessa : 1. 33 Grecheskaya Str. — Exposition of antique and medieval coins, old and modern Ukrainian banknotes ; antique pottery of the Northern Black Sea Region and fine art plastics of the Kievan Rus'. 2. 16 Deribasovskaya Str. — the gallery "Mint" (Монетный двор, "Monetny dvor"; literal translation: "Monetary Yard", the Russian term for "mint") — Exhibition of modern coins and monetary substitutes of Ukraine.

The results of the Museum’s activity over the last ten years have been the augmentation, preservation and study of historical relics and the cultural heritage of the Ukrainian people. This in turn has brought numerous awards from the Ukrainian Parliament, Government, National bank of Ukraine and the authorities of the Odessa region and the city itself. The Museum is in constant contact with different scientific, historical and cultural institutions and organizations in 100 countries of the World.

Collection

The Museum collection includes over 2,500 coins and other relics from different historical epochs: from ancient and medieval to more recent and modern times including the period leading up to and including the independent development of the Ukrainian state. The core of the collection is a collection of ancient coins minted by various city states and the Bosporan Kingdom which existed in the Northern Black Sea Region for almost one thousand years. There are many unique and rare coins of scientific interest.

Besides the spacious numismatic exhibition, other artifacts belonging to ancient Ukrainian history are also represented in the Museum’s collection: antique ceramics and ancient Russian fine art plastics. Medieval small art plastics of Kievan Rus' form the separate Museum’s collection reflecting the diversity of the kinds of ancient Russian arts and crafts in their historical development: from pieces of ornamental and decoration dating from the Pre-Christian period of Kievan Rus (pendants, broaches "lunnitsa", amulets, signet rings) to the antiquities of the Christian Epoch (icons, crosses, cross - amulets "enkolpyons"). Metal breast plates with the Princely heraldry of Rurik dynasty (two-prong and trident) are very rare and have a special interest for Ukrainian historians.

The small but extensive collection of antique pottery reveals a lot of information about the variety of utensils used by the inhabitants of the Ancient Northern Black Sea Region and the level of development of its manufacturing. The local ceramics did not achieve such a high level as the Greek but have left their traces in the methods of ceramic manufacture in the Region.

Publications

The results of the Odessa Numismatics Museum's scientific research activity are published in a regular periodical – Bulletin of the Odessa Numismatics Museum. The Bulletin’s issues include materials concerning articles on unique and rare coins from ancient cities of the Northern Black Sea Region, analysis of the coins’ features (typology, semantics of images, chronology, weight data, metallic formulation) running in conjunction with historical events, the economy and worldview of these times. Such publications allow us to bring to light previously unknown findings and enrich the knowledge of the coins from our Region. The Odessa Numismatic Museum’s research practice continues the almost bicentennial traditions of renowned Odessa numismatic researchers, and contributes its share to the scientific investigation of the Northern Black Sea Coast’s history.

In 2004 the Collected Articles of Numismatics of the Northern Black Sea Region were published. 19 issues of the “Bulletin of the Odessa Numismatics Museum" showing the results of the Museum's scientific research activity for the last five years were included. The need for this edition arose for two reasons: the constantly increasing interest in the ancient numismatics of the Northern Black Sea Region, both in Ukraine as well as abroad, and it was for this reason that all the issues of the "Bulletin" were published as non- commercial issues and limited editions, and today have became rare books. In tables are shown images of 363 coins, among them many rare and unique examples.

The Museum’s collection is completely published in the Catalogue of the Collection of the Odessa Numismatics Museum. Four volumes of the "Catalogue" have been published. All the books have been released in two language versions - Russian and English. On the basis of the Museum’s collection prepared essays and reviews for various scientific conferences, lectures and speeches address to students and also other publications have resulted.

Exhibitions and projects

Many exhibitions of ancient and modern coins and banknotes, as well as other relics from Ukraine’s ancient history take place in the Museum annually. Information about the most interesting of them appears regularly in the Museum’s website.

There are many unique and rare antique coins from the Northern Black Sea Area in the collection of the Odessa Numismatics Museum which are of special interest for history.

During the period V-IV centuries B.C. all the main Greek cities - poleis of the Northern Black Sea Region started to mint their own silver and copper coins : Pontic Olbia, Tyras, Chersonesos, Panticapaeum, Phanagoria, Nymphaion, Sindica and others. Olbia and Panticapaeum also started to mint gold coins. Polis coinage in Northern Black Sea Area proceeded till second half of III century A.D.

The Olbian monetary art in the period from the last third of V to the last quarter of IV centuries B.C. is characterized by the phenomena typical for the Hellenistic epoch : secularization, promotion of aesthetic principles and spread of archaistic style enhancing the sacred nature of the depicted image .

Besides the basic exhibition activity, the Museum annually develops and produces different TV and related projects devoted to the history of Ukraine and Odessa.

In the beginning the 1970s the museum first appeared in Odessa. It was given the name "Old Odessa" and set up in the watchtower of the old destroyed fortress located in Shevchenko park. The founder and director of this museum became the well-known Odessa regional specialist and collector Rudolf Mikhailovich Tsiporkis. He was the foremost person with an encyclopedic knowledge regarding questions concerning Odessa's history. His collection of ancient postcards totaled more than 1,500 pieces. Rudolf Tsiporkis lived a long and interesting life and died in 1999 at the age of 90. Appreciating the memory of a remarkable Odessite, and also continuing the business he began, the Odessa Numismatics Museum organized an exhibition of postcards and other historical documents which was given the name the Gallery "Old Odessa" in 1999. On the basis of its collection many TV films devoted to culture of Odessa and its history have been made.

References

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