Italy

2014

Commemorative coin

450th anniversary of the birth of Galileo Galilei

Official Journal of the European Union

The design shows the head of Galileo Galilei from the painting of Justus Sustermans, 1636 (Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi); around, upside, GALILEO GALILEI; on the right, superimposed letters R (monogram of the Mint of Rome)/astronomic telescope/C.M. (monogram of the Author Claudia Momoni); on the left, superimposed letters of the Italian Republic monogram ‘RI’; in exergue 1564-2014. The coin’s outer ring depicts the 12 stars of the European flag.

Additional information

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) was an Italian polymath - philosopher, mathematician, engineer, physicist, astronomer and cosmologist. He developed the method of exploring nature through a combination of experiments, measurements and mathematical analyses and thus became one of the most important founders of the modern exact natural sciences. Because he advocated the Copernican view of the world, the Catholic Church conducted an inquisition trial against him in 1632 and forced him to recant. The commemorative coin designed by Claudia Momoni shows Galileo next to his 90 and 130 cm telescopes built in 1609,[46] today in the Museo Galileo in Florence. The model for the portrait is an oil painting created by Justus Sustermans in 1636, today in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Edge lettering

Designer