The coin honours the award of the European Capital of Culture title to the city of Chemnitz. The coin is issued by the Federal Ministry of Finance.
The coin was designed by the artist Hagen Täuscher from Berlin.
The obverse shows twelve typical motifs of the city of Chemnitz and looks like a city guide looking back on more than 200 years of artistic, cultural and industrial history. You can see the opera house, the Old Town Hall and the tower of St Jakobi's Church in the background, St Mark's Church, the Red Tower, Klaffenbach moated castle, the town hall, the market hall, the Industrial Museum, Rabenstein Castle, the Gunzenhauser Museum, the Karl Marx Monument and the central lecture theatre and seminar building of Chemnitz University of Technology.
These buildings, which characterise Chemnitz, are placed on the outer edge in twelve segments of a circle - nine of them form the C emblem that the city and its campaigns are known for. The design of each circle segment is linked to a star, thus conveying the city's commitment to Europe. In the centre, part of the city's northern borders are highlighted in relief. They act as a carrier for the campaign logo "2025", the city name CHEMNITZ and the event "CULTURAL CAPITAL OF EUROPE".
The smooth edge of the coin features the inscription "C THE UNSEEN" in a recessed design, both normal and upside down. This is the first time that a purely English-language script has adorned the edge.
