35 Years of the Erasmus Programme

A blend of two defining elements of the Erasmus programme: its original intellectual inspiration — Erasmus himself — and an allegory of his influence on Europe. The former is represented by one of the most familiar portraits of Erasmus; the latter by a web of connections crossing the coin face from beacon to beacon, evoking the countless intellectual and human exchanges among European students. Within the European context, some of those connections form additional stars, born of the synergies between countries.

Fifth joint issue of the European Union. All 19 euro-area states are issuing a coin with the same design on varying dates. The coins differ only in the inscription, which appears in each country's national language.

Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam was one of the most influential scholars of European humanism: a theologian, philologist and tireless correspondent whose network stretched, in the early 16th century, from England to Poland. His work — including the critical edition of the Greek New Testament and the socially critical "In Praise of Folly" — left a lasting mark on intellectual Europe. Erasmus lived and taught in Basel, Leuven, Paris and Cambridge; to him, borders between countries and denominations were obstacles that education and reason were meant to overcome. It was precisely this transnational outlook that made him a guiding figure for the EU exchange programme founded in 1987, which bears his name.

Over the nearly four decades of its existence, the Erasmus programme has taken more than ten million students, trainees and teachers across Europe and is today the best-known mobility programme of the European Union. Latvia has actively taken part in Erasmus since joining the EU in 2004; Latvian universities such as the University of Latvia in Riga are integrated into the Europe-wide network of partner institutions. The programme strengthens language skills, intercultural cooperation and academic networking — values anchored in the educational outlook of all euro states. To mark the Erasmus programme's 35th anniversary in 2022, all euro countries jointly issued a commemorative coin — one of the few European joint issues in which every member state uses the same design.