5 hryvnia 2000 - Cetatea Albă - 2500 years

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35 mm diameter, 16.54 g, German silver (a silvery copper-nickel-zinc alloy), reeded edge Obverse: year 2008, the small coat of arms of Ukraine, inscription "UKRAINA 5 GRIVENI" (with Cyrillic letters) meaning "UKRAINE 5 HRYVNIA", below the logotype of NBU, all inside a frame shaped as a heraldic shield, encircled by a Greek ornamental motif	Reverse: inscription "BILGOROD DNISTROVSKII 2500 ROKIV" (with Cyrillic letters) meaning "CETATEA ALBĂ [WHITE FORTRESS] 2500 YEARS", an image of the fortress, the Ukrainian coat of arms of the city, between six ancient coins issued by the Greek city of Tyras Mintage: 50.000 coins

This coin was issued by the National Bank of Ukraine for the celebration of 2500 years from the founding of Tyras, nowadays Cetatea Albă (Ukrainian name: Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi). The coin belongs to the "Old Cities of Ukraine" series.

This coin appears on Romanian coins because Cetatea Albă played a very important role in the history of medieval Moldavia. Cetatea Albă appears also on a coin issued in 2008 by Transnistria, belonging to the Old fortresses on River Nistru series (on the page featuring the Transnistrian coin you can find several information about the history of Cetatea Albă).

The Ukrainian name for Cetatea Albă was designed as BILHOROD DNISTROVSKYI, meaning White Town on [River] Nistru, in order to avoid confusion of this town with others called BILHOROD (White Town). Cetatea Alba belongs to Ukraine since the second world war.

The three Tyra (or Tyras) ancient coins on the reverse are:
- a silver drachma, with the veiled head of Greek goddess Demeter on the obverse, bull butting and TYRANON above on the reverse, struck in the 4th century BC;
- a Roman provincial coin from the Antonine period (probably from Caracalla), on the reverse nude Heracles, standing, with club in the right hand (maybe holding the three apples of Hesperides in the left hand), holding over the left arm the skin of the Nemean lion, inscription TYRANΩN and face value Δ - 4 assaria;
- a coin from Septimius Severus, with the emperor riding to the right on the reverse.

About the Romanian coat of arms of Cetatea Albă, between WWI and WWII

The Official Gazette number 171 from August 2nd 1930 shows that the coat of arms of the city of Cetatea Albă is a silver stronghold with three round towers with pointed roofs. The stronghold is placed on a black terrace emerging from a silver sea. In the center was placed the coat of arms of Moldavia, showing that Cetatea Albă is an old Moldavian town. The shield is adorned with a silver mural crown with seven crenulated towers.

The grapevine with grapes represented on the nowadays coat of arms is taken from the old Czarist coat of arms adopted in 1826 and is an allusion to the vineyards of the region. The grapevine also appeared on the Romanian coat of arms of the Cetatea Albă county.

Romanian coat of arms of the city of Cetatea Albă, adopted in 1930 (image from the monograph Din heraldica României - From the Heraldry of Romania, by Maria Dogaru, 1994)

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