The centre contains a free interpretation of the allegorical painting of Galileo Galilei known as La fisica antica or The Study of the Planets. The year mark is inscribed below a globe standing on a desk. The mint mark (R) is to the left of the image, while the engraver's initials (LDS) appear on the right. The inscription SAN MARINO is aligned in a semicircle above the image, while the inscription World Year of Physics forms another semicircle below it. The outer ring bears the twelve stars of the European Union which are separated by the outer edges of a stylised atom depicted in the background of the entire coin.

Engraver: Luciana De Simoni

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.”

The sequence "2 ★" repeated six times alternately upright and inverted.