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Libertas on a 5 Rappen coin (Switzerland, 1997, noble brass).

The Latin word "Libertas", meaning "liberty", is generally referred to the Roman mythology. Libertas was the goddess of liberty. There have been found Libertas temples on the Palatine Hill and Aventine Hill, two of the Seven hills of Rome on which ancient Rome was built. A modern, and purely symbolic, representation of the deity^[1], is the famous Statue of Liberty (Enlightening the World)[1], which stands on Liberty Island in New York harbor. She is also depicted on the Swiss 5, 10 and 20 Rappen coins (see image]].

Libertas has also been used in a number of prominent contexts:

• Libertas has been used as the motto and an ancient symbol of the Republic of Ragusa (Dubrovnik). The Libertas Flag, based on secondary flag of the Republic of Ragusa, is flown in the old city of Dubrovnik today.

• Libertas praestantissimum donum is the title of Pope Leo XIII's 1888 statement saying that freedom is the greatest gift of God. This papal statement reversed Pope Gregory XVI's condemnation of freedom as a disease that a good Christian could not hate enough.

• Libertas was the well known motto of the Italian political party Democrazia Cristiana.

• Libertas was a name given to those who acted in some manner to liberate others.^{[citation needed]}

• Libertas was a Norwegian liberal think tank, founded in 1947 to defend political and economic freedom against infringements of individual liberty by the social democratic regime.

• Nova Libertas is also the name of a Flemish libertarian thinktank based in Leuven, Belgium.

• Libertas was the original name of the South African President's Home in Pretoria, designed by Gerhard Moerdijk. It has now been renamed Mahlamba Ndlopfu.

• Libertas (Latin: Freedom) is the name of an historic farm near Stellenbosch, South Africa. It belonged to Adam Tas, who had accused officials of the Dutch East India Company of corruption. After his release from jail, Tas also named his farmhouse Libertas, and claimed it meant "Tas is Free!"

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