Aloyseum, the St Aloysius College, museum has a coin gallery which is a treasure house of ancient, old and rare coins. These were brought from Italy in 1913 by Fr Chiappi when the museum of the Collegio Vida, was dismantled. The coins were kept stored in boxes due to lack of proper security and inability to identify them. They have been painstakingly sorted, identified and exhibited. The coins are from five continents, 82 countries from across twenty centuries.
EUROPEAN COINS:
- Rare coins from 27 European countries are displayed. The oldest coin is of 211BC a Denarius of the Roman Empire. Other ancient coins are from the Roman times representing practically all the Caesars and a coin from the Byzantine Empire. Silver and Copper coins of various countries and dynasties belonging to the 14-18th centuries are displayed.
- AMERICAN COINS- Coins from 3 North American and 3 South American countries belonging to the 18th-19th centuries are on display.
- ASIAN COINS- Coins of 33 Asian countries belonging to various kingdoms and periods are on display. The oldest coins belong to Polonnaruwa kingdom of Ceylon called as Massa coins. Old coins of Gulf countries, South East and of other countries are displayed. Many coins of Indian princely states of Baroda, Gwalior, Indore, Hyderabad, Kutch, Mysore, Travancore etc. are on display. Besides coins belonging to the colonial period of Dutch, Danish, Portuguese, British are also exhibited.
- AFRICAN COINS – Coins of seven countries of the African continent including rare coins of Algeria, Zanzibar, Egypt are displayed.
- COINS OF COUNTRIES OF OCEANIA- coins of Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea coins are exhibited.
The Gallery will be inaugurated on Wednesday 15 December 2021 at 10 AM in the Aloyseum, by Rev. Fr Melwin Pinto, SJ, Rector, St Aloysius College.
Programme:
9.15 To 9.30 AM: Arrival of Invitees,
9.30 AM: Prayer and Welcome by Fr Rector.
9.45 AM: A brief tour of the highlights of the exhibits by Ms Kavitha, MA, Curator. Followed by questions and clarifications.
10.00 AM Vote of Thanks by Mrs Lorraine Vaz
Media Persons are warmly invited to attend the inauguration. Handouts about details of the coins and photographs will be made available to the Media.
Entry to the inauguration is only for invitees.
The museum will be closed to visitors during the inauguration from 9.15 to 10.00 AM.
A Visit to the Gallery after the inauguration is included in the entry fee of the museum.
