Austria Information

The Austrian euro coins were designed on the themes of flowers, architecture and famous people in history. Further to public consultation through opinion polls, a panel of 13 experts chose the winning designs by artist Josef Kaiser.

The €2 coin shows the portrait of the radical pacifist Bertha von Suttner, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1905. The edge lettering on the €2 coin is ‘2 EURO ***’, repeated four times, alternately upright and inverted.

The €1 coin shows the portrait of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the famous Austrian composer, and his signature.

The 10, 20, and 50-cent coins depict architectural works in Vienna: the spires of St Stephen’s Cathedral (10 cent), a masterpiece of Viennese Gothic architecture; the Belvedere Palace (20 cent), a jewel of Austrian baroque style, and the ‘Sezession’ building in Vienna (50 cent), a symbol of Austrian modernism and the birth of a new era.

The 1, 2 and 5-cent coins show Alpine flowers representing Austria’s obligations and commitment to the environment: the gentian (1 cent); the edelweiss (2 cent), a traditional symbol of Austrian identity, and the primrose (5 cent).

Austrian euro coins have the particularity to show the face value on the national obverse side also.