Portugal

2018

Commemorative coin

250 years of the Ajuda Botanical Garden (‘Jardim Botânico da Ajuda’)

Official Journal of the European Union

The design shows a very old Dracaena tree that is in the Ajuda Botanical Garden premises and is a symbol of the garden. The Ajuda Botanical Garden is a Technological Support Unit of the Agronomy University. It plays the role of an infrastructure for education and research but is also open to the public. It was the first botanical garden in Portugal projected to preserve, study and collect the most numerous possible species from the plant world. At the top of the design, from left to right, in semi-circle, there is the inscription ‘250 ANOS JARDIM BOTÂNICO DA AJUDA’. At the bottom, from left to right, in semi-circle, there is the isncription ‘PORTUGAL 2018’. Right underneath the image of the trees, at the left side, there are the initials of the artist ‘J. FAZENDA’ and at the right side the mintmark ‘INCM’. The coin’s outer ring depicts the 12 stars of the European flag.

Additional information

After the Lisbon earthquake of 1755, King Joseph I's prime minister, the Marquis of Pombal, moved the court to Ajuda, then a suburb of the capital. The king bought a farm next to the royal residence to grow fruit and vegetables for consumption in the palace. For these reasons, the Italian naturalist Domenico Vandelli (1735-1816) planned the first botanical garden in Portugal (and fifteenth in Europe) for the preservation, study and collection of the greatest possible variety of plant species, with the intention that it would serve to educate the king's grandchildren. The gardens were laid out in 1768 in the contemporary symmetrical style of French and Italian gardens and were opened to the general public during the reign of King John VI. During this time, the number of species planted increased considerably, thanks to specimens brought by the governors of the colonies. The botanical garden was extensively restored in 1948 after the hurricane-force storm of February 1941 - one of the five strongest storms to hit Europe in the 20th century. Today, the Ajuda Botanical Garden belongs to the Agronomy Institute of the University of Lisbon and serves as infrastructure for educational and research purposes. The coin motif shows the garden's landmark, a Canary dragon tree planted in 1760.

Edge lettering

Designer