50 euro - Belém Tower

For more than 40 years, the UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ) lists the sites that are part of the “world heritage cultural property sites”. Since 2007, Monnaie de Paris honours various monuments included in this list in a series of collector coins. From 2019, this thematic is expanding one more time all over the world. In 2019, Monnaie de Paris celebrates the Belem Tower and Vasco de Gama. The obverse shows the Belem Tower viewed from Tagus banks, on the Hieronymites Monastery’s side. The most important items composing the tower are highlighted, such as the turrets or the cross-ribs. At the top on the right, « 500 ans Tour de Belém » is written. It means 500th anniversary of the Belem Tower because 2019 marks the birthday of the towers construction. The « RF », the 2019 yeardate and the mintmarks are visible on the obverse. On the lower part of the design, an old coin contemporary to the tower, O Português, is inscribed in one of the tower’s balustrades. The reverse is not similar to the previous years because it is not only about the banks of the Seine anymore but about all the world’s heritage of Unesco. The series reverse shows a portrait of Vasco da Gama, key symbol of the Portuguese Age of Discovery. On this reverse, items related to navigation are added, such as Vasco da Gama’s caravel, the sea or the navigation compass. At the top on the right, « 550 ans Vasco de Gama » is written mixed with a spices frieze like on an armillary sphere, as 2019 marks the 550th birthday of the famous Portuguese navigator. On the lower left side is the face value.

5 euro gold 11 mm 2.000 pcs
200 euro gold 37 mm 250 pcs
10 euro silver 37 mm 3.000 pcs