150th anniversary of the codification of the Slovak language

Silver 200 Sk coin

Under the influence of difficult social conditions, national oppression of the Slovaks and the general European tendency towards national emancipation movements, a strong revolutionary patriotic movement has been formed in the 1830s. It was headed by: Ludovit Stur, Jozef Miloslav Hurban and Michal Miloslav Hodza. They significantly advanced the process of constituting the Slovaks as a modern nation, which began to demand its own constitutional position. The codification of written Slovak language was an important step in this process. The principles of the new written language were adopted at a meeting of Stur, Hurban and Hodza at Hlboke in 1843, and later developed by Stur in his work “Nauka reci slovenskej” (Instruction in the Slovak Language). Although there had been attempts to codify Slovak in the preceding period, Stur’s Slovak proved to be the most advantageous and most viable. Therefore, it was acceptable to the nation as a whole.

Description of the coin

Obverse:
The coat of arms of the Slovak Republic, the nominal value, year of issue and the name of the state “SLOVENSKA REPUBLIKA” are placed in the field of the coin.

Reverse:
Portraits of Hurban, Stur and Hodza are placed in the centre of the coin. The initials and surname of each person, the dates 1843 and 1993 and the inscription “150 ROKOV SPISOVNEJ SLOVENCINY” (150 years of written Slovak language) are placed below them.