Czesław Miłosz (1911 - 2004), 200 zl

An 200-złoty golden numismatic coin commemorating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Czesław Miłosz

Obverse:
At the top, in the central position, there is the image of an eagle established as the national emblem of the Republic of Poland. On the sides of the eagle’s paws, there is the year of issue: 20-11. Above the eagle, there is a semi-circular inscription: RZECZPOSPOLITA POLSKA. To the left, below the eagle, on a separate surface, there is an inscription: 200/ZŁ. Below the eagle, there are stylized images of an open book with glasses on it, and sheets of paper with handwritten notes. Under the eagle’s left foot, there is the symbol of the mint: M/W.

Reverse:
To the right, there is a stylized image of Czesław Miłosz’s bust, with an outline of a country house and trees in the background. To the left, there is an inscription: 1911-2004, and an inscription underneath: CZESŁAW/Miłosz.

Designer of the coin: Robert Kotowicz

Czesław Miłosz
Poet, prose writer, essayist, translator, author of several dozen books translated into many languages. Laureate of the Noble Prize (1980) and other prestigious literary awards, honorary doctorate holder at universities in the USA and Poland, honorary citizen of Lithuania and the City of Kraków. Born on 30 June 1911 in Šeteniai, Lithuania, debuted as a poet in Vilnius, the city where he spent his school and university years, and which he left in 1937 for Warsaw. He spent the German occupation in Warsaw. After the war, he worked at the People’s Republic of Poland’s embassies in the USA and France until 1951, when he applied for political asylum in Paris. Since 1960, after leaving France, for twenty years he had been giving lectures at the University of California in Berkeley as a professor of Slavic languages and literatures. Until 1989, he mainly published works at the emigration Literary Institute of the Paris-based Culture”, and, in Poland, beyond censorship. Since 1993, he had lived in Berkeley and in Kraków. He died on 14 August 2004 in Kraków and was buried in the Crypt of the People of Merit at the Pauline monastery, next to Stanisław Wyspiański, Jacek Malczewski, Karol Szymanowski and other eminent Polish authors.