2017-04-04 Tue

A circulating commemorative ringed-bimetallic €2 coin featuring St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice was released by Italy on 22nd March. The Basilica represents beautiful Byzantine architecture and is considered to be “Serenissima” or the Most Serene which the Republic of Venice was once known.

Construction of the Church began in 1063 where a chapel had been built in the ninth century to honour the remains of St. Mark which was transferred from Alexandria to Venice.

The obverse features the façade of St. Mark’s Basilica, year dates 1617 and 2017, a monogram of the Italian Republic RI; SAN MARCO; LDS for designer Luciana De Simoni; VENEZIA and the R Mint mark of the Mint of Rome. The common European map design is depicted on the reverse. The 12 stars of the European flag appear on both sides.