Seventeenth century Lithuanian Radziwill Palace is celebrated with a new silver coin

The Bank of Lithuania has issued the first silver coin in its new series “Lithuanian Castles and Manors”. With a new coin every year, the range will highlight some of the more impressive historical buildings in this Baltic state. The initial offering will showcase the residential palace of Janusz Radziwiłł, Palatine of Vilnius and Grand Hetman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which was built in seventeenth century Vilnius.

Built beyond the city’s defensive wall, Radziwiłł Palace dates back to 1635–1653. Constructed according to the design of Jan Ullrich, architect to the Radziwiłłs, the palace was designed in the Early Baroque style with Renaissance features. The U-shaped palace was comprised of  five three-level pavilions and four transitional two-level segments, surrounding on three sides a large rectangle-shaped courtyard. The roofs of the pavilions were pyramid-shaped and crowned with gilt domes. In 1990, in the reconstructed part of the Radziwiłł Palace the Lithuanian Art Museum founded the Radziwiłł Palace Museum, which in its permanent exposition and exhibitions showcases foreign art and holds national art exhibitions, amongst other activities.

The coin uses images of the palace on both faces. The reverse shows images of the remaining and reconstructed parts of the palace, below which sits the coat-of-arms of the Radziwiłł family. The obverse features the portal of the first eastern facade of the Radziwiłł Palace, in which sits that very cool looking mounted knight emblem of Lithuania. The edge of the coin bears the inscription LIETUVOS RŪMAI IR DVARAI (LITHUANIAN PALACES AND MANORS). Designed by Vytautas Narutis and Giedrius Paulauskis, the one-ounce sterling silver coin has a mintage of 3,000 pieces and comes with a certificate of authenticity and an optional box. Struck at the Lithuanian Mint, the coin is available now for €63.00 (€67.00 boxed). Next years coin is dedicated to the Sapieha Palace.