1 Rouble Francisk Skorina's Way. Polotsk

Francysk Skaryna — the Belarusian polymath who produced the first printed books in the Eastern Slavic world at Prague in 1517 — was born in Polotsk, and the city has leaned hard into that claim for centuries. This coin belongs to a thematic series tracing his biographical route, from Polotsk through Prague and Vilnius. The oxidized copper-nickel finish, applied deliberately to produce a darkened antiqued surface, was characteristic of several Belarusian commemorative series of the 2010s and gives flat relief designs more visual contrast than a standard strike would allow.