2 Zlotys Paulines Monastery on Skałka in Kraków

The Pauline monastery on Skałka — "the Rock" — owes its enduring prominence not to the order that runs it but to a murder committed there in 1079. Bishop Stanisław of Szczepanów was killed on the site, allegedly on the orders of King Bolesław II, and his subsequent canonization in 1253 transformed Skałka into one of Poland's most politically charged pilgrimage destinations. The tension between royal authority and ecclesiastical independence that the killing crystallized recurred throughout Polish history, making the site something of a barometer for church-state friction across eight centuries.

This coin belongs to NBP's long-running Nordic gold "Places and Events" circulation-commemorative program, which began in 1995 and has produced well over a hundred types.