This year, renowned Czech poet and creative artist Jiří Kolář would celebrate his hundredth birthday. Since 1977, when he was forced to leave the country for political reasons, he lived and worked in exile in France – until 1989. During his life he prepared more than 300 exhibitions, published ten monographs, tens anthologies, children’s books, catalogues and rare beautiful books in very limited edition. The Czech National Bank (CNB) decided to commemorate his jubilee by issuing a silver commemorative medal denominated CZK 500.

The design for the silver medal was chosen from 38 entries in the design competition organized by CNB submitted by 23 artists. Two of them were selected by the jury to make the model for the medal: the obverse side was created by academic sculptor Jiří Věneček, while the reverse side is the work of Martin Dašek. This combination gave rise to an untraditional and impressive work that splendidly captures the values of the artist whose work extends beyond frontiers as well as generations. Thanks to its high artistic value this unique medal should not be missing in any numismatic collection!