The Vatican City in June will celebrate the the 200th anniversary of the Vatican Guard with a commemorative €2 coin.

Honored on this coin are the members of the Corps of Gendarmerie of Vatican City, the police for Vatican City. The Vatican Guard should not to be confused with the more well known Swiss Guard, which serves as the de facto military of Vatican City. 

Though the coin is a circulating denomination, the Vatican City issues few of its coins actually into circulation, and all 105,000 of these Vatican Guard coins are intended for collector sales. 

Connect with Coin World:  

• Sign up for our free eNewsletter
• Like us on Facebook  
• Follow us on Twitter

In 1816, after the dissolution of the Napoleonic empire, Pope Pius VII founded the Papal Carabinieri Corps for the service of the Papal States. It has been renamed several times, most recently in 2002, with the current name being Corps of Gendarmerie of Vatican City. 

The obverse of the coin features a singular Vatican guard in front of the Dome of St. Peter’s Basilica. At the top, in semi-circle is an inscription translating to “police force” with the 1816 and 2016 dual dates. 

The name of the issuing entity and the designer name, D. LONGO, also appear.

The ringed-bimetallic coin has a copper-nickel core and copper-aluminum-nickel ring.

The coin’s outer ring depicts the 12 stars of the European flag. The common reverse shows a map of the European Union.

The €2 coin weighs 8.5 grams and measures 25.75 millimeters in diameter.

Each nation is allowed to issue up to two different circulating commemorative designs annually, with designs of their choosing, though few nations issue the maximum number of designs.

Joint euro programs like the 2015 coins honoring the 30th anniversary of flag of the European Union do not count toward this limit.