Netherlands €5 2012. The Canals of Amsterdam. Silver Proof

Dutch World Heritage: The Canals of Amsterdam

Amsterdam has long been called the “Venice of the North” and for many centuries its canals have drawn throngs of tourists and have been the backdrop for countless festivities; Since 2010 the area between the Singel, Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht canals has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. To highlight this and other such historic places the Ministry of Finance authorized a new series of commemorative coins on the topic of Dutch Heritage (2012-2020). The Amsterdam canals are celebrating their 400th birthday in 2013 making them an appropriate subject for the first issue in the series.
 

The Amsterdam Canal district coin is designed by Tine Melzer. On the obverse is a portrait of Queen Beatrix with a world map of fingerprints in the background as a matte layer on a shiny coin. It is a symbol of the collective ownership of Dutch Heritage and a worldwide symbol of Dutch culture. The reverse also shows a world map, but with a map of the Amsterdam canal district in the center. The value is written out in words to stress the Dutch language.
A modernist icon, the Rietveld Schröder House in Utrecht (2013) and the windmills of Kinderdijk, near Rotterdam, the largest concentration of old windmills in the Netherlands (2014) will be the themes of the next two issues.