20 Euros Lyon Saint-Exupéry Railway Station

Part of Monnaie de Paris's ongoing architectural series, this issue commemorates Santiago Calatrava's terminal at Lyon-Saint-Exupéry, opened in 1994. The station was originally named Satolas after the adjacent airport before being renamed in 1999 to honor Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the aviator and author of Le Petit Prince, who disappeared over the Mediterranean in July 1944 while on a reconnaissance mission for the Free French forces.

Calatrava's structure was his first major French commission, its bird-like concrete shell generating immediate controversy over cost overruns that exceeded initial projections by a substantial margin.