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 Metropolitan Cathedral Buenos Aires, 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.

•     Coin is decorated with real stained glass

•     Each coin comes in a special box with a COA.

•     Strict limited mintage of only 2000 coins.

•     Obverse: Effigy of Queen Elizabeth II, “Cook Islands”, and the legal tender value of 10 Dollars

•     Reverse: A very high quality rendition of Metropolitan Cathedral Buenos Aires
  

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 In the series of Windows of Heaven you can find:

  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 – Washington National Cathedral – Special Editon

  2014 Windows of Heaven Giants – Cologne Cathedral – Special Edition

  2015 Windows of Heaven – Zagreb Cathedral

  2015 Windows of Heaven – Stockholm

  2015 Windows of Heaven – Jerusalem Dominus Flevit

  2015 Windows of Heaven Giants – Notre Dame – Special Edition

  History:

The Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral (Spanish: Catedral Metropolitana de Buenos Aires) is the main Catholic church in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is located in the city center, overlooking Plaza de Mayo, on the corner of San Martín and Rivadavia streets, in the San Nicolás neighbourhood. It is the mother church of the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires.

The Cathedral of Buenos Aires was rebuilt several times since its humble origins in the 16th century. The present building is a mix of architectural styles, with an 18th-century nave and dome and a severe, 19th-century Neoclassical façade without towers. The interior keeps precious 18th-century statues and altarpieces, as well as abundant Neo-Renaissance and Neo-Baroque decoration.
During the definitive foundation of Buenos Aires by Juan de Garay in 1580, part of a block facing the main square was reserved for the major church of the town. This is still the location of the current Cathedral, which is the last building in a series of previous churches that occupied the site.
At the time of its foundation, the town depended on the diocese of Asunción (in today’s Paraguay). The first main church of Buenos Aires was a modest building made of wood and adobe, and was replaced by a new one in 1605 by Governor Hernandarias. This second building was also in danger of collapse by 1616 and had to be rebuilt again, something which was done around 1618. In 1620, Buenos Aires was made seat of a bishopric by Pope Paul V. Its main church now had the status of a cathedral.
After 1662, the cathedral was again rebuilt under bishop Cristóbal de la Mancha y Velazco and governor José Martínez de Salazar, being re-inaugurated in 1671. The cathedral now had three naves covered by a wooden roof and a tower. Due to the bad quality of its building materials, the tower and the roof of this church fell down in the early 1680s. The whole church was again rebuilt, starting in 1684, under bishop Azcona Imberto. In 1695 the building was almost finished, with the flanking towers of the façade and the sacristy still to be completed.

In the early 18th century the works were slow, and the first tower was finished only around 1721. The second tower was begun in 1722 and finished around 1725. The main façade was redesigned between 1725 and 1727 by the Italian Jesuit Giovanni Bianchi (also spelled Blanqui). The design of the new façade was directly inspired by Italian Mannerist architecture.

Metropolitan Cathedral Buenos Aires