"At the wild water" | 50 Euro | 2022 | Gold coin

The water of the Gesäuse

Why are people fascinated by gold and anything that sparkles? A glitter indicated to our ancestors: There is water! And how much water there is in the Styrian Gesäuse! And how wildly moving and untamed it is!

In the Gesäuse National Park, which was established in 2002 and is the youngest of Austria's six national parks, nature is left to its own devices and presents itself as a spectacle. Here, the Enns breaks its way through the Northern Alps with all its might; steep and rugged mountains rise up on both sides.

The wonderfully winding valley allows countless animal and plant species to live in peace and quiet. For example, a black-colored, land-living species of tailed amphibian: the Alpine salamander; due to its rarity, it is strictly protected in Austria.

Text courtesy of the Austrian Mint.