The ECU — European Currency Unit — was never legal tender in Spain but was issued by several member states throughout the 1990s as a quasi-official collector currency, anticipating the euro that would follow. Spain's cultural tribute series used the denomination to honor figures of international stature, and Casals was a pointed choice: the cellist had lived in self-imposed exile from Franco's Spain for decades, refusing to perform in any country that recognized the regime.
He died in 1973, two years before Franco, never returning to Catalonia.
The ECU — European Currency Unit — was never legal tender in Spain but was issued by several member states throughout the 1990s as a quasi-official collector currency, anticipating the euro that would follow. Spain's cultural tribute series used the denomination to honor figures of international stature, and Casals was a pointed choice: the cellist had lived in self-imposed exile from Franco's Spain for decades, refusing to perform in any country that recognized the regime.
He died in 1973, two years before Franco, never returning to Catalonia.