Lithuania · Dzūkija (series: Lithuanian Ethnographic Regions (Litauische Ethnographische Regionen))

Issue date9 Sept 2021

Total mintage500,000

EU maximum500,000

Editions2

Edge letteringLAISVĖ ★ VIENYBĖ ★ GEROVĖ ★

InscriptionEX GENTE BELICOSISSIMA POPULUS LABORIOSUS / LIETUVA / DZŪKIJA / 2021

DesignerRolandas Rimkūnas

mintUAB Lietuvos monetų kalykla, Vilnius (Lithuania)

Issue occasion

The coin commemorates Dzūkija as part of the “Lithuanian Ethnographic Regions” series. The design features a coat of arms with an armoured knight holding a halberd and leaning on a silver Baltic shield; two lynxes support the bar below. A ribbon bears the Latin inscription “EX GENTE BELICOSISSIMA POPULUS LABORIOSUS” (“From a most warlike tribe to a hardworking people”).

The design

The coin design shows a coat of arms with a knight in armor, holding a halberd in his right hand and leaning with his left against a silver Baltic shield. The coat of arms rests on a bar held by two lynxes. Beneath it, a ribbon bears the Latin inscription EX GENTE BELICOSISSIMA POPULUS LABORIOSUS (FROM A WARLIKE TRIBE TO AN INDUSTRIOUS PEOPLE).

The design is framed by the inscriptions LIETUVA and DZŪKIJA, the year of issue 2021 and the mark of the Lithuanian mint. The coin was designed by Rolandas Rimkūnas.

The outer ring of the coin depicts the twelve stars of the European flag.

Background on the topic

Dzūkija is located in southern and southeastern Lithuania. As an ethnographic region, it has no defined administrative boundaries and does not constitute a separate political entity. Alytus is regarded as its regional center; the forested areas around Varėna and the spa town of Druskininkai are also considered part of Dzūkija. Large parts of the landscape are characterized by pine forests, sandy soils, rivers and lakes. As the soils in many areas permitted only low agricultural yields, forestry, beekeeping, and the gathering of mushrooms and berries traditionally played a particularly important role.

The name Dzūkija derives from a distinctive feature of the local Lithuanian dialects: certain consonants are pronounced as “dz” or “c.” The inhabitants are called Dzūkai. In addition to the language, folk songs, storytelling traditions, wooden architecture and traditional customs are among the characteristics of the regional identity. The name Dainava is also used for the area. It refers to a historical landscape associated with the Yotvingians, a West Baltic people who lived in parts of present-day Lithuania, Poland and Belarus during the Middle Ages.

The extensive forests also shaped the political history of the region. They repeatedly provided places of refuge for armed resistance groups. After the Soviet occupation of Lithuania, Lithuanian partisans operated there; one of their territorial formations bore the name Dainava. The martial reference in the modern regional heraldry therefore connects both to older Baltic traditions and to the memory of defense and resistance.

The coin issue places Dzūkija within Lithuania’s ethnographic structure. This generally distinguishes five regions, whose boundaries are drawn primarily on the basis of dialects, customs and historical self-perception. The coin series thus highlights a cultural diversity that is not reflected in today’s administrative districts. The choice of Dzūkija was consequently not tied to a single anniversary, but formed part of a systematic presentation of the country’s regional identities.