France

Commemorative coin

2023

Olympic Games Paris 2024 (Sower)

(Part of the National series " Summer Olympic Games in Paris 2024 ")

Official Journal of the European Union

One hundred years after the Paris 1924 Olympic Games, the French capital will once again host the Summer Games in 2024. One year before the launch of the Olympic Games, the Monnaie de Paris is continuing the celebration by counting down to the start of the Games by highlighting its heritage and that of Paris. An event with international echo whose intensity gradually increases in the years leading up to the event, with already several €2 commemorative coins dedicated to the Olympic Games over the past years. The design of the coin depicts the Sower, a national figure and icon of French numismatics, practicing pugilism, the forerunner of boxing, in reference to the Antic Olympic Games. Her silhouette is in the foreground in front of the Pont-Neuf and its surroundings, typical of the Ile de la Cité area, a key element of the Parisian landscape. In the background, an athletic track, into which the emblem of Paris 2024 is inserted on the right-hand side, is represented. The year date, the RF mention and the mintmarks are inserted under the arch, on the bridge railing and in the Seine The coin’s outer ring depicts the 12 stars of the European flag.

Additional information

La Semeuse (The Sower) is a French allegory invented by Oscar Roty around 1887. The young woman in a Phrygian cap sowing seeds at sunrise became over time one of the symbols of the French Republic, depicted in particular on coins. On the third commemorative coin, dedicated to the Summer Olympics to be held in Paris in 2024, the sowing woman is depicted in the pose of a pugilist, wearing modern boxing gloves. Pugilism was first a discipline at the 23rd Ancient Olympics in 688 BC. The logo of the Games, "PARIS 2024" and the five Olmpic rings are depicted on the right, integrated into the running tracks concentrically surrounding the motif in the background of the national stadium Stade de France, which opened in 1998 and offers 75,000 seats for athletics spectators. The architectural motif of the coin is the Pont Neuf (New Bridge), built under King Henry IV from 1578 to 1607, which crosses the western tip of the Île de la Cité (City Island) in the Seine near the Louvre Palace, with the Place Dauphine (Square of the Successor to the Throne), whose peripheral buildings are visible above the bridge on the left.

Edge lettering

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