For other uses of this term, see Helvetia (disambiguation). Image of Helvetia on a Swiss stamp.
Helvetia is the national feminine personification of Switzerland, it comes from the name of the tribe of Helvetii and is a Neolithic derivation with the meaning of Switzerland or Swiss Confederation.
Helvetia appears for the first time in the eighteenth century as a woman. It gained in importance with the resurgence of national feeling in the nineteenth century and the founding of the Swiss federal state in the year 1848.
It appeared in coins and stamps, as well as political and patriotic illustrations. To this day Helvetia's image is on the ½, 1 and 2 Swiss franc coins.
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