2016-11-18 Fri

On 15th November, Latvia issued a new commemorative €2 Coin to celebrate 100 years of the country's independence which will be officially celebrated in November 2018. After World War I, many European countries got independence and hence 2018 to 2020 will be a very important time period for all.

The first coin in this series would be depicting the region of Vidzeme. Meaning “Middle Land,” Vidzeme is also known as Livland. Historically, people known as Latgallians and Livs lived in Vidzeme till the 13th century. The movement of Protestant Lutheran helped in the development of the area in the 18th century. Many rural craft centres were developed in the 19th century and the building of sailing vessels on the coast of the Gulf of Riga. During the New Latvians movement, many cultural and artistic specialists hailed from this region.

Today, Vidzeme is the most populated region of Latvia; it has the longest river of Latvia - the Gauja River; the highest peak, known as Gaizi?š; and the largest cave, known as G?tma?ala.

Famous artist Laimonis Senbergs, developed the design and the coin was modeled for production by J?nis Strupulis. The national side depicts the coat of arms of Vidzeme with a griffin in a traditional shield and a sword in its right claw.

The European side features the denomination €2 and is created by Luc Luycx. It bears the inscription DIEVS SVETI LATVIJU (“God Bless Latvia”) and stars between the words.

The mintage limit of the €2 Bimetallic 8.5 g Circulation coin is 1,000,000 and that of the €2 Bimetallic 8.5 g Brilliant Unc coin is 1,000.