Gdansk Cathedral’s famous organ is showcased on the Mint of Poland’s new windowed silver coin

The Mint of Poland has released a new two-ounce silver coin showing off the famous Oliwa Organ that resides in the archcathedral in Gdansk on Polands Baltic coast. Built in the closing decade of the sixteenth century, this 17.7m high and 107m long structure is the longest Cistercian church in the world. Like many grand European religious buildings of the time, this one is hugely impressive visually and a quite amazing achievement given the technology of the time.

The organ for which the archcathedral is known was built between 1763 and 1788 by a Cistercian monk called Johann Wilhelm Wulff. Constructed with 5,100 pipes, 3 manual keyboards, one foot keyboard and 14 bellows, it’s quite a bit bigger than an ipod. We’d imagine the volume goes up quite a bit higher, however.

The coin is typical of the genre – two ounces of fine silver with an antique finish, and although this one isn’t an ultra high-relief coin, it looks impressive enough. One side features a look at the organ – a device with a very distinctive appearance. A window in the centre is filled with a coloured glass insert depicting a reproduction of one of the windows in the archcathedral. The obverse looks at the building exterior. The whole interior/exterior thing is a common design choice with this coin genre and to be honest, works well.

Available this week, the coin comes with a certificate of authenticity and is presented in one of the decent latex-skinned display frames that the Mint of Poland has helped popularise. Minatge of this 50 mm diameter coin is set at 500 and it looks like it will be selling for around the €200-220 mark. A few of our sponsors sell this one, including Powercoin and appropriately enough, the Mint of Gdansk.

MINTS DESCRIPTION: Although the cultural heritage is too rich to be fully explored, some works of art and architecture are recognized all over the world. The Mint of Poland is proud to present a coin dedicated to famous organs located in the Archcathedral in Gdańsk Oliwa, a historic possession of the Cistercian Monks. The temple is a great achievement of Romanesque and Gothic architectural thought.The more that the cathedral still remains the longest church of Poland. Thanks to its meticulously sculptured organ, the cathedral is seen as a pearl of European culture and a distinctive landmark of Gdańsk. At the time of their creation, the Oliwa organ was the greatest musical instrument of this type in the world.

DESIGN: The reverse of the coin features the wonderful detailed image of the organ with a beautiful coloured glass insert replicating a window of the Archcathedral. The obverse of the coin features the back view of the coloured window, surrounded by the detailed image of the exterior of the Archcathedral. On the bottom of the obverse, the inscriptions: “REPUBLIQUE DU CAMEROUN” – the issuing country, “2018” – the year of issue and “2000 FRANCS CFA” – the face value.