Issue: 7 March 2002 (signature: Željko Rohatinski), released into circulation: 3 June 2002

Issue: 9 July 2012 (signature: Boris Vujčić), released into circulation: 1 July 2013

Size: 138 x 69 mm

Main colour: reddish-brown

Motif on the obverse: a portrait of Ivan Mažuranić (1814-1890) and a fragment of the Baška Inscription from the Convent of St. Lucy in Baška on the Island of Krk

IVAN MAŽURANIĆ
Croatian writer, politician and lawyer Ivan Mažuranić was born in 1814. Among his many public and political offices, he was Speaker of the Croatian Parliament until 1873, when he was appointed to the office of Ban (Viceroy). His work on thorough changes to the political administration, judiciary and education, foundation of the University of Zagreb, his efforts to make Croatia a modern state, as well as his refusal of the noble title of Baron which he would have gained with his appointment as Viceroy, made him very popular among the populace, who started calling him the "Commoner Ban". His capital work is the "Death of Smail-aga Čengić", a classic of Croatian literature. He also completed the Ivan Gundulić epic "Osman" by writing the missing cantos 14 and 15. It is considered complete and printed in this way since the first edition by Matica Ilirska in 1844. His political manifesto "Hrvati Mađarom" from 1848 is the first great prose in modern Croatian literature.

BAŠKA TABLET

The Baška tablet, created around the year 1100, is one of the most precious and oldest Croatian epigraphs written in Glagolitic script. It was discovered in the church of St. Lucy in Jurandvor near Baška on the island of Krk. The inscription on the tablet describes King Zvonimir donating land to the church of St Lucy. The title of King Zvonimir, which reads "Croatian King", is the first recorded written instance of a Croatian name in the Croatian language. Croats used the Glagolitic script for an entire millennium between the 9th and 19th century, making it an integral part of the Croatian identity. Stjepan Ivšić, outstanding Croatian linguist, called it the "golden tablet" of the Croatian language, our "precious stone" that was to be cherished by the Croats "as long as the Croatian people shall exist".

Motif on the reverse: the church of St. Vitus in Rijeka

RIJEKA - CATHEDRAL OF ST. VITUS

The Cathedral of St. Vitus, where the captains of Rijeka swore their oaths, was built as a modern Baroque church on the site of the medieval church consecrated to the same saint, at almost the highest point of the city. Its Miraculous Gothic wooden crucifix has been preserved until today and was originally from the first church on the site. St. Vitus is the patron of Rijeka, which was known as "St Vitus' Rika" in the Middle Ages. The first public high schools in Croatia were founded there by the Jesuit order, who arrived at the request of the city government to educate the city youth. In 1627 they founded a school, then a university to which King Ferdinand II awarded the same rights and privileges held by other European universities. The Jesuits began building a church in 1638 to an entirely new landscape concept which envisioned it as the central building. Its construction lasted for a century, but was never fully completed. A gallery and a large dome were added in the 18th century. With the establishment of the Diocese of Rijeka in 1925 this representative church became a cathedral.