Feature: 200 years of Oesterreichische Nationalbank
Description: The design depicts a carved relief
with two gods from Roman mythology standing before the entrance to the
main building of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB): to the left,
Mercury, the messenger of the gods and the god of merchants and
commerce; to the right, Fortuna, the goddess of fate and prosperity, who
is portrayed with a horn of plenty. The background detail, running from
the left to the right edges of the core, shows the OeNB’s main
premises. An ornamental band skirting the bottom of the coin centre
evokes the red-white-red pattern of the Austrian national flag, with
hatched vertical lines symbolising the colour red, as laid down in the
rules of heraldic design. The years ‘1816’ and ‘2016’ to the left of
Mercury refer to the OeNB’s founding year and its bicentennial. The
inscriptions running along the edges of the gold-coloured centre read
‘Republik Österreich’ (Republic of Austria) and ‘200 Jahre
Oesterreichische Nationalbank’ (200 years of Oesterreichische
Nationalbank). The coin’s outer ring bears the 12 stars of the European
Union.