Palau has operated one of the more prolific commemorative programs in the Pacific, routinely licensing sacred and UNESCO-listed sites from other nations' sovereign territory for coin issues that have no plausible domestic connection. The Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya, Bihar — the site where Siddhartha Gautama is traditionally held to have attained enlightenment — was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2002, which triggered a wave of numismatic interest from third-party issuers. Palau was among the first to act on it.
The KM#712 attribution places this squarely within a larger Palauan series covering world heritage architecture.
Palau has operated one of the more prolific commemorative programs in the Pacific, routinely licensing sacred and UNESCO-listed sites from other nations' sovereign territory for coin issues that have no plausible domestic connection. The Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya, Bihar — the site where Siddhartha Gautama is traditionally held to have attained enlightenment — was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2002, which triggered a wave of numismatic interest from third-party issuers. Palau was among the first to act on it.
The KM#712 attribution places this squarely within a larger Palauan series covering world heritage architecture.