Joan Martí i Alanís served as Bishop of Urgell — and therefore Co-Prince of Andorra — from 1971 until his death in 2003, one of the longer tenures in that unusual dual-monarchy arrangement. Andorra's silver coinage of the 1980s was issued almost entirely for the collector market; the principality had no independent currency of its own and relied on French francs and Spanish pesetas for everyday commerce.
Sant Joan de Caselles, the Romanesque church this piece commemorates, dates to the 11th century and contains one of the better-preserved pre-Romanesque bell towers in the Pyrenees.
Joan Martí i Alanís served as Bishop of Urgell — and therefore Co-Prince of Andorra — from 1971 until his death in 2003, one of the longer tenures in that unusual dual-monarchy arrangement. Andorra's silver coinage of the 1980s was issued almost entirely for the collector market; the principality had no independent currency of its own and relied on French francs and Spanish pesetas for everyday commerce.
Sant Joan de Caselles, the Romanesque church this piece commemorates, dates to the 11th century and contains one of the better-preserved pre-Romanesque bell towers in the Pyrenees.