The coin was presented to His Holiness Pope Francis and to His Excellency the President Maithripala Sirisena at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo on Tuesday (13).
The details of the design and specifications of the coin are as follows.
Obverse of the Coin -
In the middle of the coin, the bust of His Holiness Pope Francis is depicted surrounded by a ring of 33 honeysuckle flowers as portrayed in the traditional Sinhalese artistic style. Number 33, representing the number of the years of the earthly life of Jesus that is considered as a sacred number according to the Christian tradition. Adjacent is a circle of 120 dots. The edge of the coin states the words ‘Papal Visit Sri Lanka’ in Sinhala, Tamil and English languages and the dates of the visit, ‘13-15 January 2015’,with the word ‘January’ in Sinhala, Tamil and English languages.
Reverse of the Coin -
In the center of the coin is the official logo for the Papal Visit to Sri Lanka 2015. Below the logo is the face value of the coin ‘500’ in numerals with the word ‘Rupees’ in Sinhala,Tamil and English languages. Surrounding the upper part of the logo is the word ‘Sri Lanka’, in Sinhala, Tamil and English languages. The edge of the coin is decorated with a Liywela made out of 40 Na flowers, 40x3 Na buds and 40x3 Na leaves and a circle of 120 dots. The Na flower is the flower of the National Tree of Sri Lanka and it is used in the statue of Our Lady of Lanka- a name given for the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. (CB/KH)
