AKKO (ACRE) 2010/5770
3rd Coin in the "UNESCO World Heritage Sites" Series.
Legal Tender Issued by the Bank of Israel
The Bank of Israel has chosen the new Akko coin, with which to open both the year 2010 and the new decade. Akko richly deserves to be included among the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, worthy of preservation, inasmuch as this 4,000 year old port city, jutting into the blue waters of the Mediterranean on Israel’s northern coast, is a unique and priceless jewel. UNESCO's designation of Akko states that the exceptional history of the city is reflected in the fact that its well preserved Crusader subterranean city, dating from the Middle Ages, atop which is the Islamic fortress city of Ottoman times (18th-19th centuries), presents a priceless picture and testament of how ancient cities were planned and constructed and how later cities were built emerging from and on top of the older ones. This is exemplified as well in the layered archaeological findings of Jerusalem and each city teaches us about the other one. It is interesting to note that the Crusader city, with Byzantine and Roman remnants, was discovered in the 1960's when municipal development necessitated the construction of a modern sewer system.
Akko incorporates and encapsulates the entire history and archaeology of the Land of Israel, from Biblical times even before King Solomon, through the Greeks and Romans, the Byzantines, the Crusaders, the Ottomon Moslems, Napoleon, the British and, finally, the fledgling State of Israel (as depicted in the famous film “Exodus”, with its dramatic prison escape from Acre’s moated fortress).
Akko (Acre) is also a microcosm of modern Israel, where Jews and Arabs live, work and interact together in normalcy which is enviable throughout the Middle East, and boasts a thriving population of some 47,000. It is a tourist mecca as well and its beauty can be seen on this coin, which portrays on its obverse the ancient fortress walls, with the famous Khan-el-Umdan caravanseraie and its clock tower, erected to celebrate the 25th year of the reign of the notorious Ottoman “Butcher of Acre”, Sultan Suleiman Abdul Hamid II. The obverse also shows the subterranean Crusader Knights’ Hall, the famous White Mosque and other buildings on the Acre skyline. The coin reverse repeats the view of the famous fortress, this time as seen against the backdrop of the Mediterranean Sea. |
Edge: |
Prooflike coin: Smooth.
Silver and Gold Proof coins: Milled. |
Mint Marks: |
Prooflike coin – Star of David.
Silver and Gold Proof coins – Hebrew letter "mem" below the face value. |
Designer: |
| Moshe Pereg. |
Engraving: |
Mint: |
| Tidhar Dagan. |
Norway. |
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