The soulof
modern Switzerland
turns 175
Since 1848, the Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation has organised and governed many aspects of life in Switzerland. Swissmint is celebrating this special anniversary with a special coin.
In the name of Almighty God!
The invocation of God is found in the medieval documents of the early Swiss Confederacy. The 1848 confederates carried on this tradition, and as a result the Preamble to the Federal Constitution also begins with the “invocatio Dei”. Even the stained glass in the dome of the Federal Palace alludes to a higher power: two angels bearing the Swiss coat of arms.
The soul of our Switzerland
“Technically, the Federal Constitution is a boring legal code,” says Peter Salzmann, the designer of the special coin. “A set of rules we are constantly updating.” Even the Preamble has been revised several times over the past 175 years. “It is the soul of our Constitution and thus an expression of our society’s understanding of itself.”
A powerful symbol
The design of the obverse of the coin is therefore based on the Preamble: God, creation, unity, peace, solidarity and the passing on of a set of values to future generations – allegorically depicted, these concepts intertwine to form a highly resonant symbolic whole.
An angel with clipped wings
For the reverse, the Olten-based designer drew inspiration from the Federal Palace dome. “We usually see what we want to see,” says Salzmann. As a way of engaging with the debate around the reference to God in the Constitution, he has clipped the wings of an angel. What remains is a familiar figure, serene, secure, relaxed. The angel has become Helvetia, the peacemaker – a virtue that is more important than ever in these times.
