Banknote Museum of Alpha Bank

Heroes Square and the Ionian Bank
The building
sign

The Banknote Museum of Alpha Bank (formerly Banknote Museum of the Ionian Bank) is a museum located in Corfu, Greece.[1][2][3]

It exhibits an almost complete collection of the Greek currencies from 1822 to present, about 2000 items.[1][2][4] It includes the first treasury bonds issued by the newly liberated Greek State in 1822. It also shows the replacement of the drachma by the euro in 2002.[1][3] Exhibits include sketches, essays, and printing plates of Greek banknotes.[2] One of its rarest holdings is the 1860 "colonata".[1]

The museum was established in 1981 by the Ionian Bank. It is housed at the former Ionian Bank building, designed by Corfiote architect Ioannis Chronis in about 1840.[1][2][4][5] In 2000 Ionian Bank merged with Alpha Bank. The Banknote Museum was renovated and was reopened in 2005.[1][2] An additional exhibit hall was added showcasing "Ionian Bank Limited,which was a British venture and the first bank to operate in Greek territory.[1] The museum collection is considered one of the most complete of its kind in the world.[4]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g A history of Greece's banknotes Archived February 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine Alexandra Koroxenidis - Kathimerini English Edition 18 January 2006
  2. ^ a b c d e Alpha Bank Website Archived 2018-06-09 at the Wayback Machine Information on Banknote Museum of Corfu
  3. ^ a b Rizospastis newspaper (In Greek)
  4. ^ a b c To Vima (Translation by Google)
  5. ^ Corfu Cityhall Archived January 6, 2008, at the Wayback Machine Museum info