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							                                                                                              COMMEMORATIVE COINS
                                                                                        COMMEMORATIVE SILVER COIN ...           25

             COMMEMORATIVE SILVER COIN
       PROTECTION OF NATURE AND THE LANDSCAPE
           SLOVENSKÝ KRAS NATIONAL PARK

                                                      First Prize:
   Apart from important personalities,                Mária Poldaufová            submitted twelve designs. After eva-
historic events and cultural treasu-                                              luation of the entries, the expert
res, the National Bank of Slovakia                                                commission recommended producti-
also propagates the beauty of Slo-                                                on of the design of the Kremnica
vak nature by issuing commemorati-                                                medallist Mária Poldaufová, who gai-
ve coins with the theme of national                                               ned first prize. The commission app-
parks. Commemorative coins were                                                   reciated her design as the best
already issued for Slovenský Raj                                                  expression of the given theme. The
National Park in 1994, Pieniny Nati-                                              artist placed on the obverse two
onal Park in 1997, Tatry National                                                 Emberiza cia typical representatives
Park in 1998 and Malá Fatra Natio-                                                of the bird fauna of the national park.
nal Park in 2001. The issue of the                                                For the reverse, she chose a charac-
fifth commemorative coin with this                                                teristic part of the water deposited
theme was prepared in March 2005.                                                 decoration of the Jasovská cave,
It is devoted to the Slovenský Kras                                               with the flower Erythronium dens-
(Slovak Karst) National Park.                                                     canis placed in the foreground, as
   The Slovenský Kras National Park                                               a typical representative of the flora of
is situated in the south-western part                                             the national park. She supplemented
of eastern Slovakia. It was declared in                                           the relief parts with interestingly
2002, has an area of 34,611 ha and is                    Third Prize:             designed and well chosen letters.
                                                     PhDr. Kliment Mitura
the largest area of karst in Slovakia. It                                            No second prize was awarded in
has a multitude of karst forms, the                                               the competition. The third prize went
canyon like valleys of the river Slaná                                            to PhDr. Kliment Mitura, whose
and Štítnický brook, caves and potho-                                             design attracted the commission by
les. The Zádielska and Hájska gorges                                              its united composition, its harmony
are characteristic of the area, as are                                            of obverse and reverse sides, and
the famous and much visited Gomba-                                                especially by the high quality depicti-
secká, Jasovská and Domica caves.                                                 on of Erythronium dens-canis on the
The Silická ľadnica, a chasm with                                                 obverse.
permanent ice decoration, is a rarity.                                               The commemorative 500 Sk coin
In variety of flora it is one of the                                              with a diameter of 40 mm and weight
richest areas of Central Europe.                                                  of 33.63 g is struck from silver with
Especially the rare Erythronium dens-                                             a fineness of 925/1000 at the Bižuté-
canis (dog’s tooth violet) is notable.                                            rie Czech Mint at Jablonec nad
From the botanical point of view, the                                             Nisou in the number of 8,500 pieces
most important are the endemic spe-                                               of standard quality and 3,600 pieces
cies, for example Onosma tornense                                                 of proof quality. A maximum limit of
and Draba lasiocarpa. The national                                                10,000 standard pieces and 5,000
park is one of the ornithologically                                               proof pieces has been set for the
most important territories of Slovakia, and other fauna is issue. The edge of the coin bears the inscription
richly represented in it. It is remarkable that all 24 speci- „OCHRANA PRÍRODY A KRAJINY“ (Protection of
es of bats found in Slovakia live there.                        Nature and the Landscape) preceded by a dividing
   A public anonymous competition was declared to find mark in the form of a stylized flower.
a design for the commemorative coin, and ten artists                  Ing. Dagmar Flaché, photo: Ing. Štefan Fröhlich


                                                                                                  BIATEC, Volume XIII, 3/2005