Obverse. Photo © NumisCorner.com
  • 2 Euro 2016, KM# 177, Malta, Maltese Prehistoric Sites, Ġgantija Temples
  • 2 Euro 2016, KM# 177, Malta, Maltese Prehistoric Sites, Ġgantija Temples
  • 2 Euro 2016, KM# 177, Malta, Maltese Prehistoric Sites, Ġgantija Temples, With the Paris Mint mint mark and director's mark
  • 2 Euro 2016, KM# 177, Malta, Maltese Prehistoric Sites, Ġgantija Temples, With letter F
  • 2 Euro 2016, KM# 177, Malta, Maltese Prehistoric Sites, Ġgantija Temples, Coincard
Description

This coin is the first in a series of seven coins depicting Maltese prehistoric sites.

There are three types of this coin (obverse):
• without mint marks (in rolls)
• with the mint mark (Cornucopia) and director Yves Sampo's marks (Pentagon with letters AG) before and after year (UNC in coincard)
• with letter F in the star at 6 hours (annual set)

Obverse

Depicts the Ġgantija Temples, situated on the Island of Gozo, the second-largest island in Malta. At the top right the inscription ‘ĠGANTIJA TEMPLES’ and underneath the years ‘3800-3200 BC’. At the bottom left the name of the country of issuance ‘MALTA’ and underneath the year of issuance ‘2016’.

Ġgantija ("Giants' Tower") is a megalithic temple complex from the Neolithic. The Ġgantija temples are the earliest of the Megalithic Temples of Malta. The Ġgantija temples are older than the pyramids of Egypt. Their makers erected the two Ġgantija temples during the Neolithic (c. 3600–2500 BCE), which makes these temples more than 5500 years old and the world's second oldest manmade religious structures after Göbekli Tepe.

The temples are elements of a ceremonial site in a fertility rite. Researchers have the numerous figurines and statues found on site associated with that cult. According to local Gozitan folklore, a giantess who ate nothing but broad beans and honey bore a child from a man of the common people. With the child hanging from her shoulder, built these temples and used them as places of worship.

Together with other similar structures, these have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Megalithic Temples of Malta.

Engraver: Noel Galea Bason

ĠGANTIJA
TEMPLES
3800-3200 BC
NGB
MALTA
2016

Reverse

A geographical map of Western Europe spans the outer ring and inner core on the right side of the coin. The inscription 2 EURO is superimposed over the map of Europe, with the numeral “2” located in an open field representing the eastern Atlantic Ocean.

12 stars are located on the right side of the outer ring, with six stars atop the map of Europe and six stars below it; six vertical stripes cut across the inner core of the coin, visually connecting the upper and lower star segments.

Luc Luycx, a designer at the Royal Belgian Mint, designed the Euro’s common reverse; his initials, LL, are seen on the right side of the design, just under the “O” in “EURO.”

2 EURO
LL

Edge

The sequence "2✠✠" repeated six times alternately upright and inverted

2 ✠✠ 2 ✠✠ 2 ✠✠ 2 ✠✠ 2 ✠✠ 2 ✠✠

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Characteristics
Type Commemorative Issue (Circulating)
Material Bi-Metallic
Ring Cupronickel
Center Nickel Brass
Weight 8.5 g
Diameter 25.75 mm
Thickness 2.2 mm
Shape round
Alignment Medal
Mint
Paris Mint (F)

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