400th Anniversary of the Death of William Shakespeare

Portrait of the English poet and playwright William Shakespeare. To the right, in a semicircle: the dates "1616–2016" and the issuing state "San Marino". Lower right: the artist's initials "MB". To the left, in a semicircle: the inscription "William Shakespeare"; lower left: the "R" mintmark.

William Shakespeare, born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, is regarded as the most significant playwright of the English language and one of the most performed dramatists in world history. Over roughly two decades he wrote around 37 plays - including tragedies such as Hamlet, Othello and King Lear, as well as comedies such as A Midsummer Night's Dream - along with sonnets and longer poems. His works were created mostly for the Globe Theatre in London, which he co-owned. Shakespeare's language shaped English lastingly; dozens of proverbial phrases and grammatical constructions trace back to him. Despite his towering stature, biographical sources are scarce: a baptismal record, a marriage certificate, theatre documents and his will form the confirmed core, much else remains speculation. He died on 23 April 1616 in his hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon.

San Marino - the small landlocked state in central Italy with close cultural ties to the European humanist and Renaissance tradition - marks with its 2016 issue the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death. This may at first glance seem unusual, but it accords with San Marino's custom of honouring significant figures of Western culture regardless of nationality. Shakespeare stands as an example of the Renaissance as a pan-European phenomenon: his work drew on Italian sources - Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, Othello - making material from the peninsula accessible to a wide audience. The 2016 San Marino 2-euro commemorative coin joins the international remembrance culture of the Shakespeare Year, marked worldwide with performances, exhibitions and academic events.