| Description : On the 8th of November 1414, Sigismund of Luxembourg and
Barbara of Cilli were crowned royal couple of the Holy Roman Empire in Aachen. Barbara had been Queen of Hungary and Croatia
since 1408. In 1408 the royal couple founded the Order of the Dragon, modelled on the Order of St. George. Until 1415,
Barbara took part in the Council of Constance alongside Sigismund and in 1429 in the Congress of Lucerne. In 1433 she
became Roman‐German Empress, and in 1437 ‐ shortly before Sigismund's death ‐ Queen of Bohemia. Beside her
great political influence (1412‐1418 she served as governor of her husband in Hungary several times) she also had a
reputation as an astrologer and alchemist. In 1451 she died of the plague in Bohemian Mělnik and was buried in the
princely crypt in St Vitus Cathedral in Prague (Sigismund rests in the cathedral church in Oradea). Barbara Celjska
(as her Slovenian name is) is represented by hatching with a cross of paws on her head, a sceptre and the three six‐pointed
stars of the Counts of Cilli, which originally came from the coat of arms of the Counts of Heunburg and now adorn the coat
of arms of Slovenia. The name of the issuing state "SLOVENIJA" (Slovenia) is ‐ diagonally ascending ‐ on the left,
their name "BARBARA CELJSKA" and the dates "1414‐2014" are on the right. The coin was designed by Primož
Fijavž, Boštjan Botas Kenda and Peter Rauch and minted without a mintmark by the Royal Dutch Mint
Koninklijke Nederlandse Munt in Utrecht. |
