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Adrian VI (Adriaen Florisz Boeyens) was the last non-Italian pope until the election of John Paul II in 1978, and the last pope from the Holy Roman Empire, as well as the only one of Dutch origin. He died only a year after his election to the papacy. The brevity of his pontificate did not allow him to be more effective in his peacemaking efforts. Most of the official documents of Adrian VI disappeared shortly after his death. Adrian VI died in Rome on 14 September 1523.<br><br>Vatican philately commemorated Pope Adrian VI on the fifth centenary of his election to the papacy. The stamp has a value of € 2,00 and reproduces a painting of the Pope with the tiara enclosed in an oval, painted in oil on canvas. An anonymous artist created the work between 1522 and 1599, basing it on a commemorative medal in which the Pope appears portrayed in the same manner. The painting is owned by the Rijksmuseum Centraal, one of the world's most famous museums, and has been on loan since 1993 to the Residence of the Ambassador of the Netherlands to the Holy See.	<br><br>

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