20 Euro 25th Anniversary of the Fall of the Iron Curtain Coin P
Bordered by the Eastern Bloc for decades, Austria felt the presence of the Iron Curtain far more than most other western countries, and its fall in 1989 was particularly significant to the Austrians. Picturing the decisive events associated with the collapse of the Berlin Wall, this ingenious and resonant silver coin celebrates the 25th anniversary of one of the key events in recent world history. Showing the same momentous occasion from two different perspectives, the coin shows a young everyman escaping from oppression and totalitarianism – represented by the Berlin Wall and barbed wire – on its obverse. The coin’s reverse shows the same man at the same moment as he emerges into the ‘Free World’. Famous landmarks standing for the nations involved in the process that led to the end of the Cold War also grace the reverse: the Charles Bridge in Prague for the former Czechoslovakia; the Riesenrad Ferris wheel in Vienna for Austria; the Chain Bridge in Budapest for Hungary; Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate for Germany; and the Statue of Liberty for the USA. The end of the east-west divide, the fulfilment of the dreams of so many people and the birth of a free, peaceful and united Europe are commemorated in this masterful silver coin.