| Description : Matthias Corvinus (1443‐1490) was king of Hungary and Croatia
1458‐1490, 1469‐1490 king of Bohemia and conqueror of large parts of the Habsburg hereditary lands
(which he ruled from Vienna 1485‐1490). In 1465 he founded the Universitas Istropolitana in Pressburg, where teaching
started in 1467. Johann Vitez, the rector of the university, appointed many famous lecturers from Austria, Italy and
Poland, among them Galeotto Marzio and Regiomontanus. The university was closed down in 1490 after Corvinus' death, due to
lack of financial support. Today's successor institution is the Comenius University of Bratislava. The commemorative coin depicts
the facade of the university, which today houses the University of Performing Arts Bratislava, and in front of it a
professor and two students facing him. The impression at the top left depicts Matthias Corvinius taken from a
chronicle written by Johannes de Thurocz (∼1435‐1489), holding an orb crowned by a trefly cross. Next to it
is the year of formation "1467". Below is "SLOVENSKO" (Slovakia) and the year of issue "2017", on the left "UNIVERZITA"
and on the top right "ISTROPOLITANA". The lower left‐hand side shows the mintmark "MK" between two embossing stamps of
the Slovak mint Mincovňa Kremnica š.p. in Kremnica and the abbreviated initials "MP" of the coin
designer Mária Poldaufová. |
