10 euro – The Twelve Apostles: Saint James

The Vatican Mint dedicates the 10 euro silver coin, FS version, to another apostle, Saint James the Greater. Artist Marco Ventura places the image of Saint James in the centre of the coin, referring to a common iconography that shows a man with a long beard wearing a pilgrim’s cloak, holding a staff and carrying a pilgrim’s pouch. On his broad-brimmed hat is a seashell, a symbol of life and rebirth. James was the first apostle to be martyred. His relics were taken to Galicia where in 830, thanks to a phenomenon of star-like lights, they were rediscovered. In that place in 1075 the construction of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela (Campus Stellae) began, later to become one of the most significant pilgrimage destinations.