A collectible coin, the artwork of which was created by the Bulgarian designer and lecturer at the National Academy of Arts, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Svetlin Balezdrov, has been put on sale by the Central Bank of Estonia (Eesti Pank), the bank’s website said. The coin has a denomination of EUR 8 and is made of silver. In addition, a commemorative two-euro coin by Balezdrov’s design will be put into circulation next year, marking an important anniversary of the establishment of the written Estonian language.
The occasion for the appearance of the silver coin, which has a mintage of 5,000 pieces, is linked to the Estonian city of Tartu, which is part of the Hanseatic League, an alliance of trade guilds from Northern Europe.
The Hanseatic League was formed in the 12th century as an alliance of merchants, grew into an alliance of merchant guilds, and by the end of the 13th century into an alliance of cities. Cities such as Hamburg and Bremen in Germany and others were its members.
The silver coin for Tartu shows a window opening onto its town hall. Tartu’s name is incorporated into the design in a way that highlights the city’s art and artistic traditions.
Balezdrov pointed out that in the process of developing the design for the coin, it struck him that the word ART is contained in the city’s name – TARTU.
This visual finding in typography, reinforced and expressed by plastic and graphic means, has become the main conceptual motif of the art project.
The typographic solution contains an unambiguous reference to the cultural and artistic traditions of the southern Estonian city, which has been named the European Capital of Culture for 2024.
/MT/
