200 000 Karbovantsiv Lesya Ukrainka

Issued in 1996 as part of Ukraine's first commemorative coin program following independence, this piece honors Lesia Ukrainka — pen name of Larysa Kosach-Kvitka — one of the most significant Ukrainian-language poets of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She wrote much of her major work while suffering from tuberculosis of the bone, spending extended periods in Egypt, Germany, and the Caucasus seeking treatment. The 200,000 karbovanets denomination reflects the catastrophic inflation Ukraine endured in the early 1990s; by the time this coin was struck, the karbovanets was already being phased out in favor of the hryvnia, introduced later that same year.