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A stunning new series of silver coins minted for the Cook Islands pays tribute to famous Cathedrals throughout the world. Beautifully designed, featuring stained glass windows, the series bears the title “The Windows of Heaven”.
The obverse of the coin represents an effigy of Elizabeth II as well as the inscription of the Queen’s name. There is a full-colour window ins ert next to the portrait. The obverse also contains the legends indicating the face value of the coin and the name of the issuing country.
The reverse design features the image of the magnificent Chartres Cathedral, with a plan of the outlay of the cathedral below. Being a powerful testimony to the strength and persistence of Christian belief in medieval and modern Europe, the temple has an exceptional intrinsic val ue and contains artistic masterpieces, one of them reflected in a full-colour window insert on the reverse of this silver coin. The upper part of the coin contains the legend denoting the name of the series. Below the images, there are the inscriptions of the name of the city and the year of mintage.
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Contains 50 grams of .925 Silver.
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Coin is decorated with real stained glass
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Each coin comes in a special box with a COA.
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Strict limited mintage of only 2000 coins.
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Obverse: Effigy of Queen Elizabeth II, “Cook Islands”, and the legal tender value of 10 Dollars
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Reverse: A very high quality rendition of Chartres Cathedral
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In the series of Windows of Heaven you can find:
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2010 Windows of Heaven – Cologne
2011 Windows of Heaven – Notre Dame de Paris
2011 Windows of Heaven – Sevilla
2011 Windows of Heaven – Westminster Abbey London
2011 Windows of History – Titanic
2012 Windows of Heaven – Bethlehem
2012 Windows of Heaven – Cracow St Francis
2012 Windows of Heaven – St Isaac Cathedral
2013 Windows of Heaven – Chartres
2013 Windows of Heaven – Lourdes
2013 Windows of Heaven – Milan Cathedral
2013 Windows of History – Grand Central Terminal
2014 Windows of Heaven – Buenos Aires
2014 Windows of Heaven – Sacre Coeur
2014 Windows of Heaven – Sacre Coeur
2014 Windows of Heaven – Washington National Cathedral – Special Editon
2014 Windows of Heaven Giants – Cologne Cathedral – Special Edition
2015 Windows of Heaven – Zagreb Cathedral
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History:
Chartres Cathedral, also known as Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres (French: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres), is a medieval Catholic cathedral of the Latin Church located in Chartres, France, about 80 kilometres (50 mi) southwest of Paris. It is considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The current cathedral, mostly constructed between 1194 and 1250, is the last of at least five which have occupied the site since the town became a bishopric in the 4th century.
The cathedral is in an exceptional state of preservation. The majority of the original stained glass windows survive intact, while the architecture has seen only minor changes since the early 13th century. The building’s exterior is dominated by heavy flying buttresses which allowed the architects to increase the window size significantly, while the west end is dominated by two contrasting spires – a 105-metre (349 ft) plain pyramid completed around 1160 and a 113-metre (377 ft) early 16th-century Flamboyant spire on top of an older tower. Equally notable are the three great façades, each adorned with hundreds of sculpted figures illustrating key theological themes and narratives.
Since at least the 12th century the cathedral has been an important destination for travellers – and remains so to this day, attracting large numbers of Christian pilgrims, many of whom come to venerate its famous relic, the Sancta Camisa, said to be the tunic worn by the Virgin Mary at Christ’s birth, as well as large numbers of secular tourists who come to admire the cathedral’s architecture and historical merit.
Chartres Cathedral
