Obverse. Photo © Herdenkingsmunten.be
  • 2 Euro 2018, KM# 374, Belgium, Philippe, 50th Anniversary of the Leuven Vlaams Incident
  • 2 Euro 2018, KM# 374, Belgium, Philippe, 50th Anniversary of the Leuven Vlaams Incident
  • 2 Euro 2018, KM# 374, Belgium, Philippe, 50th Anniversary of the Leuven Vlaams Incident, Coincard
  • 2 Euro 2018, KM# 374, Belgium, Philippe, 50th Anniversary of the Leuven Vlaams Incident, Proof in a box
Description

In 1968 Belgium was the only country in Western Europe where the student protest movement brought the government to its knees. That says something about the power of the Leuven students movement, but it also reveals something of the country itself.

From its beginning in 1834, the Catholic University of Louvain provided lectures only in French. Lectures in Dutch, the other official language of Belgium and the language spoken in Leuven, began to be provided in 1930. In 1962, in line with constitutional reforms governing official language use, the French and Dutch sections of the university became autonomous within a common governing structure. Flemish nationalists continued to demand a division of the university, and Dutch speakers expressed resentment at privileges given to French-speaking academic staff and the perceived disdain by the local French-speaking community for their Dutch-speaking neighbours. Mainstream Flemish politicians and students began demonstrating under the slogan 'Leuven Vlaams - Walen Buiten' ("Leuven [is] Flemish - Walloons out"). Student demonstrations escalated into violence throughout the mid-60s. Student unrest fueled by the history of discrimination against Flemings eventually brought down the Belgian government in February 1968.

The dispute was resolved in June 1968 by turning the Dutch-language section of the university into the independent Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, which remained in Leuven. The French-speaking university, called the Université catholique de Louvain, was moved to a greenfield campus called Louvain-la-Neuve ("New Leuven"), farther south in the French-speaking part of the Province of Brabant.

Obverse

Depicts silhouettes of two students (left one with a flag, right one with a pamphlet) in front of the symbolic silhouette of a university building. Date of the issue on the right between mint and privy marks above the indication of nationality 'BE' below. The twelve stars of the European Union surround the design on the outer ring.

• Royal Dutch Mint's mintmark: Caduceus or Mercury's wand, a short staff entwined by two serpents
• Royal Belgian Mint Director's privy mark: Coat of arms of the municipality Herzele (Ingrid Van Herzele)
• Engraver: Luc Luycx

mei - 1968
mai
2018
BE

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 ★ ★

2 Euro

50th Anniversary of the Leuven Vlaams Incident

KM# 374 LA# BEM-8.24
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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
Royal Dutch Mint (KNM)

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