CHICAGO – The newest exhibition at the National Hellenic Museum (NHM), Change: The Story of Coins, is set to open on March 4. This interactive display will teach how coins are important financial, cultural, and political tools.

Visitors will explore the many ways in which Hellenic culture influenced the use, production, and design of coins from early use to today. Themes of mythology, trade of goods, power, imagery, and value will be examined across this hands-on exhibit.

“Coins are some of our best records of political, social, and economic change. The coins in this exhibition demonstrate the vast reach of the Hellenic world in antiquity,” said Katherine Kelaidis, PhD, Resident Scholar of the National Hellenic Museum.

CHANGE: The Story of Coins will feature 29 coins, which date from the Hellenistic Period to the early Roman period (336 BCE-55 CE). Accompanying these coins will be a section focusing on Alexander the Great’s impact on the spread of Hellenism.

“These coins represent a key moment in world history — the period in which Greek customs spread out of the Eastern Mediterranean and become the shared culture of educated people,” Prof. Kelaidis said.

The National Hellenic Museum will celebrate the March 4th opening of the exhibition with a reception, 2-4 pm.

This exhibition will be on view through February 2019. It may be extended beyond the first year with rotations of coins from other time periods, such as the Classical and Byzantine.

About the National Hellenic Museum

The National Hellenic Museum (NHM) portrays and celebrates Greek heritage and the Hellenic legacy through educational classes, exhibitions and programs. With a growing repository of over 20,000 artifacts, the Museum collects and highlights the contributions of Greeks and Greek Americans to the American mosaic and inspires curiosity about visitors’ own family journeys though cultural expression, oral history, and experiential education. Located in Chicago’s Greektown, the NHM provides lifelong learning for the whole community using artifacts and stories to spark inquiry and discussion about the broader issues in our lives.

More information about the exhibition and the NHM is available online at: www.nationalhellenicmuseum.org or by phone: 312-655-1234. Follow NHM on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.