National Anthem of Luxembourg

Grand Duke Henri's left-facing profile; to the left of the inner field: musical notation and the text of the national anthem. "Ons Heemecht" appears in the upper field; in the lower field: the country name "LËTZEBUERG" and the year "2013", flanked by the mintmaster's and mint marks.

In 2015 a retrospective set was issued comprising the Luxembourg €2 commemorative coins of 2013–2015 (LU-13 G1, LU-14 G1, LU-14 G2, LU-15 G1, LU-15 G2, LU-15 G3).

"Ons Heemecht" - "Our Homeland" - has been Luxembourg's official national anthem since 1895 and is thus one of the few European anthems that carries no note of battle or triumph whatsoever. The text was written in 1859 by the poet Michel Lentz; the music was composed by Johann Anton Zinnen. What defines the song is its character as a homeland anthem in the literal sense: it describes the Moselle, the valleys and forests of Luxembourg, not the state or its history. Luxembourgish, the Lëtzebuergesch language, was barely codified in writing during Lentz's time - "Ons Heemecht" therefore also ranks among the early documents of an independent Luxembourgish linguistic identity.

That the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg dedicated a commemorative coin to the anthem in 2013 should be understood against the backdrop of a deliberately cultivated policy of multilingualism. Lëtzebuergesch was only recognised by law as an official language in 1984 - alongside French and German - and has since become a symbol of a national identity defined not by size but by continuity and cultural distinctiveness. At around 2,600 square kilometres, Luxembourg is one of the smallest states in the eurozone, yet one of the oldest sovereign ones: the Grand Duchy's independence was internationally guaranteed in 1867 by the Treaty of London. The anniversary issue appeared in the year of the 150th anniversary of that treaty.