2020 – 1/4€ unesco forbidden city coin – common quality vintage

For more than 40 years, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) has listed a list of sites as “World Heritage”. Since 2007, the Paris Mint has honored various monuments classified on this list in a series of collector’s coins. From 2019, the theme is once again expanding on a global scale.

In 2020, Monnaie de Paris is honoring the largest palace in the ancient world completed just 600 years ago: the Forbidden City, located in Beijing, China.

The obverse represents a view of the palace from the outer courtyard, the nerve center of power where the Emperor’s major decisions were made. It is accessed through the South Gate, the main entrance to the palace but also the only one today through which it can be accessed.

The words “600 years of the Forbidden City” on the roof of the palace are also translated into Chinese as reflecting in the courtyard. A gigantic dragon, symbol of Chinese imperial power, seems to embrace the palace and therefore protect it.

The reverse is common to all the coins in the UNESCO series for this year 2020. It represents the terrestrial globe with the parallels and meridians on the left part and the inscriptions of major sites classified as UNESCO World Heritage on the right part. . The left part of the globe is surrounded by the UNESCO logo as well as the “World