In 1929, the Lateran Treaties were concluded in the Lateran Palace between the Holy See under Pope Pius XI and the then Kingdom of Italy (represented by Prime Minister Benito Mussolini). They settled the Roman Question and secured the territorial sovereignty of the Vatican City within the city limits of Rome after the dissolution of the Papal States in 1870 and the status of an extraterritorial possession of the Holy See for the Lateran and Castel Gandolfo. The coin shows Pius XI, as Bishop of Rome head of the Roman Catholic Church, with tiara in front of the side view of the Lateran Palace, renewed in 1586 (where popes were crowned until the 19th century) and the Lateran Obelisk standing in the Piazza San Giovanni. This was built for Pharaoh Thutmosis III. (1479-1425 BC) in the Temple of Amun in Thebes. In 337 it was shipped from Karnak to Alexandria to be erected in Constantinople, the new capital of the Roman Empire, but in 357 under Emperor Constantius II it was instead brought to Rome on a specially constructed ship and erected on the spina of the Circus Maximus. Broken in an earthquake, it was excavated in 1587, shortened by 2 m, restored and placed in its present location. The right side of the coin shows the side façade of the Lateran Basilica, which was renovated from 1646. |
