50 Lei Miron Costin

Miron Costin was a 17th-century Moldavian chronicler whose works — written in Polish as well as Romanian — remain foundational sources for the medieval history of the region. He was executed in 1691 on the orders of Moldavian prince Constantin Cantemir, father of the more famous Dimitrie, on charges that remain disputed by historians. The National Bank of Moldova issued several commemorative silver pieces in the early 2000s honoring figures central to a distinctly Moldovan cultural identity — a project with obvious political resonance for a state barely a decade into independence.