Banco de Portugal will put a cupronickel-alloy collector coin into circulation from 27 February 2019, with face value of €5, called ‘The Renaissance’. 

The coin will be distributed to the public through credit institutions and Banco de Portugal's cash offices.

‘The Renaissance’ coin is only legal tender in Portugal and has the following features:

On the obverse: 

• Filling the centre, the European star;
• In the middle, surrounded by the word ‘Portugal’, the Portuguese coat of arms on the armillary sphere, which is actually a miniature model of the cosmos and was an astronomical instrument used for navigation by the Portuguese during the sixteenth century; 
• On the right, the face value;
• At the top, the words ‘O Renascimento’ and ‘2019’;
• At the bottom, the abbreviation ‘INCM’ and the name of the author.

On the reverse: 

• In the background, a horizontal projection on the terrestrial globe of a loxodromic curve, which had its origin in the discovery by Pedro Nunes that the shortest path is not a straight line but a curve;
• In the middle, and following the movement drawn by the loxodromic line, the words ‘Curva Loxodrómica. Petrus Nonius’. 

The characteristics of this coin were approved by Executive Order No 15/2019, published in the Official Gazette, Series I – No 10 of 15 January. 

The issue limit was set at 40,000 coins with normal finish.