THE TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF KAROL KUZMÁNY

In September 2006 the National Bank of is pre- second prize, attracted attention especially thanks to the paring the issue of a commemorative silver devoted to quality of the portrait, the purity of the sculptural work and the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of Karol Kuzmá- the high level of compositional and creative stylistic harmony ny, writer, Church dignitary, teacher, first between the obverse and reverse. On the deputy chairman of Matica Slovenská and Produced coin obverse, a square contains a depiction of an Mária Poldaufová one of the central figures in the national, open book with a lime leaf in the centre. On literary and religious life of Slovakia in the the reverse, a square contains a portrait of 19th century. Karol Kuzmány. Above is a facsimile of his Károl Kuzmány was born on 16th Novem- signature and his ecclesiastical function – ber 1806 in Brezno. After completing his „superintendent“. theological studies, he worked as an assi- A second prize was awarded to Miroslav stant teacher and later as a professor at the Ronai. The obverse side of his design bears Evangelical Lyceum in Kežmarok. He ser- the head of a young woman, intended as an ved as parish pastor in Zvolen and Banská alegory of the young Slovak nation and the Bystrica, lectured at the Evengelical or Lut- Matica Slovenská organization. On the heran Faculty of Theology of the University reverse is a characteristic portrait of Karol of Vienna (1849-1860), and became paten- Kuzmány. The winner of the competition, tal superintendent in Banská Bystrica. Final- Mária Poldaufová also gained an upgraded ly, from 1863, he worked in Martin, where third prize. The commission especially app- he was parish pastor and serving deputy reciated the quality of the portrait, which chairman of the Matica Slovenská cultural shows a high level of stylization. organization. He engaged in the Slovak With the coin devoted to Karol Kuzmány, national movement beside the Slovak Republic joined 2nd prize Upgraded 3rd prize the followers of Štúr. In Miroslav Ronai Mária Poldaufová the programme of „Common 1849, he was a member of Issues of Europe“, in which the delegation, which sub- various member states of the mitted to the Emperor Franz European Union participate. Joseph I a document stating In 2006, it is devoted to the national and constitutio- European personalities. nal demands of the Slovaks. A common element of the He actively participated in issues is a mark representing founding Matica Slovenská a European star and the in 1863 and contributed to symbol of the . The mark establishing the Slovak was not part of the competiti- gymnasium in Martin. He on designs, but was added wrote the theoretical work later by decision of the NBS. O kráse (On Beauty) in It is placed on the lower mar- 1836, the poem Běla in gin of the obverse side. 1836, the philosophical The commemorative coin novel Ladislav in 1838, and has a value of 200 SKK, dia- 1836 to 1838 he published meter of 34 mm and weight the literary magazine Hronka. He produced a proposal for of 18 g. It has been struck from silver with a fineness of the organization of the Evengelical or Lutheran Church in 900/1000 at the Mint. On the edge is an incuse the . It was implemented in 1859 in the inscription from the beginning of a hymn: „KTO ZA PRAVDU form of the Imperial Protestant Patent, and the majority of HORÍ V SVÄTEJ OBETI...“ (Who burns for truth in holy sac- Church synods in Slovakia were organized according to it. rifice). The coin was struck in the number of 4,900 pieces of He died on 14th August 1866 at Turčianske Teplice. standard quality and 2,500 pieces of proof quality. A maxi- The National Bank of Slovakia held an anonymous com- mum of 5,000 standard and 17,000 proof pieces has been petition to find an artistic design for the commemorative set. Proof will be struck up to this limit according to coin. Eight artists submitted ten works. The commission of demand from foreign customers. the governor of the NBS assessed the proposed designs Ing. Dagmar Flaché and recommended for production the proposal by the Photographs: Bedrich Schreiber successful designer of Slovak commemorative coins, the and Ing. Štefan Fröhlich Kremnica artist Mária Poldaufová. Her design, which won