500 Schilling Stams Stift in Tirol

Stams Abbey in Tyrol, founded in 1273 by Count Meinhard II of Gorz-Tyrol and his mother Elisabeth of Bavaria as a mausoleum for the Tyrolean ruling dynasty, became one of the most politically significant Cistercian houses in the Alpine region. The 1984 issue commemorated the abbey's 700th anniversary — though the precise founding year carries some ambiguity in the historical record, with certain documents pointing to 1272 for the initial endowment. Austria's commemorative 500-Schilling silver program of this period was among the more ambitious in postwar European numismatics, averaging several thematic issues per year through the 1970s and 1980s.