15 g, 500th anniversary of the first Slovenian printed text (2015)

In the middle of the 15^th century, handwritten literature began to be replaced by the first printed texts called incunabula. There were no printing presses in the Slovenian lands at that time, but Jernej Pelušič and Jernej Budrio, two natives of Koper, worked at printing workshops in Venice, while the prominent printer Matevž Cerdonis of Slovenj Gradec worked in Padua.

 

The 16^th century saw the printing of the first leaflets, the forerunners of newspapers, and they served to inform the public about political events, rulers and unusual things in the world of nature or human life.

 

The pan-Slovenian peasant uprising began in 1515. In Vienna a leaflet was printed with a poem in German describing the rebellious peasants in Carniola and the victory over them. It also bore a Slovenian slogan and the warcry of the Slovenian rebels: “Stara prauda” (old levies) and “Leukhup, leukhup, leukhup, leukhup woga gmaina” (peasants unite), which was probably part of the rebel song. These were the first words printed in Slovenian. A copy of the leaflet is kept at the National and University Library in Ljubljana.

 

Source: National Museum of Slovenia

 

 

On the 500^th anniversary of the first Slovenian printed text, the Republic of Slovenia is issuing collector’s coins depicting a facsimile of the Slovenian text on the leaflet printed in 1515.

Coin Designer: Edi Berk, Ljubljana / Slovenia

Minting: Mincovna Kremnica, š.p., Kremnica / Slovakia