20 000 Pesetas - Juan Carlos I Ruins of Empuries

The Ruins of Empúries (Emporio in Latin) occupy a singular place in Iberian archaeology — the site was the only Greek colonial settlement on the peninsula, founded by Phocaean merchants around 575 BC, later absorbed and expanded by Rome. By 1990, excavations there had been ongoing for nearly a century, having resumed seriously under Puig i Cadafalch in the early 1900s. Spain's choice to commemorate the site on a gold issue reflected a broader political moment: the post-Franco cultural rehabilitation of Catalan heritage, given that Empúries sits squarely in Catalonia near L'Escala.