Issued in 1997 as part of Ukraine's early commemorative program following independence, this coin marks one of the oldest surviving architectural monuments in the country — the Spaso-Preobrazhens'kyi (Transfiguration) Cathedral in Chernihiv dates to the 1030s and 1040s, commissioned under Mstislav Volodymyrovych, son of Vladimir the Great. It is among the handful of pre-Mongol Rus' structures still standing in any recognizable form after the devastation of the 1239 Mongol sack of Chernihiv.
The Zahreba reference distinguishes this as the CM.20.2 variety within the cataloguing system developed specifically for Ukrainian commemoratives, reflecting the National Bank's aggressive early issuance schedule in the years immediately following the hryvnia's reintroduction in September 1996.
Issued in 1997 as part of Ukraine's early commemorative program following independence, this coin marks one of the oldest surviving architectural monuments in the country — the Spaso-Preobrazhens'kyi (Transfiguration) Cathedral in Chernihiv dates to the 1030s and 1040s, commissioned under Mstislav Volodymyrovych, son of Vladimir the Great. It is among the handful of pre-Mongol Rus' structures still standing in any recognizable form after the devastation of the 1239 Mongol sack of Chernihiv.
The Zahreba reference distinguishes this as the CM.20.2 variety within the cataloguing system developed specifically for Ukrainian commemoratives, reflecting the National Bank's aggressive early issuance schedule in the years immediately following the hryvnia's reintroduction in September 1996.