Description

2010 marks the centenary of the birth of the architect Eero Saarinen. In honour of this occasion, the Mint of Finland minted a silver collector coin, with a nominal value of 10 euros.

Eero Saarinen (1910–1961) was a Finnish-American architect and industrial designer noted for his wide-ranging array of designs for buildings and monuments. Saarinen is best known for designing the Washington Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C., the TWA Flight Center in New York City, and the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri. He was the son of Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen.

The open competition for the coin design was won by the designer Juha Kauko, with his entry ‘On the other side’. In his winning work, Juha Kauko contemplates the idea of how functional and comfortable the space is left around and inside the building. The architect’s shapely objects are left out and in their place is just empty space, the environment of which has been emphasised.

The collector coin is part of the Europa Coin Programme, also known as the European Silver Programme, or the Eurostar Programme. It is an initiative dedicated to the issuance of collector-oriented legal tender coins in precious metals to celebrate European identity. The issuing authorities of EU member countries voluntarily contribute coins to the Europa Coin Programme. Multiple countries have participated in the programme, beginning in 2004. Some coins are denominated in euro, others are denominated in other currencies.

Issue date: 29.1.2010