450 years - Austria / II. Republic of Austria 1967 - 3.50 Shilling

In 1517, the Reformation began with the attack on Martin Luther's 95 Theses at the Castle Church in Wittenberg. Martin Luther could not have guessed that his theses provided the impetus for a development that moved world and church history. He turned against it above all against the indulgence trade practiced by the church, with which sins were issued for cash money. These theses struck the very root of the unease and anxiety that had swept wide circles of Christianity. The further development is well known: Martin Luther was expelled four years later from the Roman Catholic Church, and thus the Church of the Gospel was on its own. In Austria, it took until the Tolerance Edict Joseph II of 1781 that the Protestants were no longer expelled or persecuted. It was not until the reign of Emperor Franz Joseph in 1861 that equality with Catholics was made possible by the Protestant patent. Today, around 450,000 Austrians belong to this denomination. The motif of the brand image is a commemorative coin from 1717 in Frankfurt, with which the theses were celebrated. The front shows a rock in the sea. On it lies a bible that is irradiated from above by the all-seeing eye of God. The Latin inscription means, "Lord, receive us the light of the Gospel."