Depicts the portrait of Pope Pius XI on the background of the St. John in Lateran square with the Lateran Palace (left) and the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran (right) and the Lateran Obelisk in front.

Pope Pius XI, born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (1857–1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on 11 February 1929. He took as his papal motto, "Pax Christi in Regno Christi," translated "The Peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ."

The Lateran Palace (Latin: Palatium Lateranense), formally the Apostolic Palace of the Lateran (Latin: Palatium Apostolicum Lateranense), is an ancient palace of the Roman Empire and later the main papal residence in southeast Rome.

The Cathedral of the Most Holy Savior and of Saints John the Baptist and the Evangelist in the Lateran, – also known as the Papal Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran, St. John Lateran, or the Lateran Basilica – is the cathedral church of Rome and serves as the seat of the Roman Pontiff.

Lateran Obelisk is the tallest obelisk in Rome, and the largest standing ancient Egyptian obelisk in the world, originally weighing around 455 tons. Originally from the temple of Amun in Karnak, the obelisk was first brought to Alexandria over the Nile by obelisk ship in the early 4th century along with the Obelisk of Theodosius by Constantius II. He intended to bring them both to Constantinople, his new capital for the Roman empire. The obelisk never made it there.

Engraver: Daniela Fusco

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.