Francysk Skaryna left Polotsk in the late 15th century, studied medicine at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, then took his doctorate in Padua before establishing one of the first printing presses in Eastern Europe — in Prague, in 1517. His Ruthenian-language Bible, printed there in a series of fascicles, predates the first press on Belarusian soil by years. This coin marks the Prague leg of that journey specifically, the fifth in a series tracing his route city by city.
The oxidized copper-nickel finish is deliberate — the darkened surfaces were chosen to evoke aged manuscript and woodcut aesthetics across the entire Skaryna series.
Francysk Skaryna left Polotsk in the late 15th century, studied medicine at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, then took his doctorate in Padua before establishing one of the first printing presses in Eastern Europe — in Prague, in 1517. His Ruthenian-language Bible, printed there in a series of fascicles, predates the first press on Belarusian soil by years. This coin marks the Prague leg of that journey specifically, the fifth in a series tracing his route city by city.
The oxidized copper-nickel finish is deliberate — the darkened surfaces were chosen to evoke aged manuscript and woodcut aesthetics across the entire Skaryna series.