1 Lira Founding of the Community

San Marino's 1991 coinage program commemorated the 1,700th anniversary of the republic's founding — a date traditionally set at 301 AD, when the stonecutter Marinus of Rab is said to have established a Christian community on Monte Titano to escape Diocletian's persecutions. Whether that origin story is literally true is another matter, but San Marino has defended its claim to continuous statehood longer than virtually any other entity in Europe.