500 Francs CFA St. Olga

St. Olga of Kiev, canonized by the Eastern Orthodox Church in 1547, was the grandmother of Vladimir the Great and is credited with introducing Christianity to the Kievan Rus' ruling dynasty before the official conversion of 988 AD. Her appearance on a Togolese CFA issue has nothing to do with any historical connection between Togo and Kievan Rus' — this belongs to a class of licensed commemorative coinage produced for the collector market under West African franc zone issuing arrangements, where the nominal issuer is largely administrative.