Silver Coin 500 CZK Matica slovenská 125th Anniversary 1988

125th anniversary of the founding of the Slovak Matica

Silver commemorative coin issued in Czechoslovakia in 1988 to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the founding of the Slovak National Mathematics. Anniversary of the founding of the Slovak Matrix. This rare silver coin is housed in a plastic capsule, certificate of authenticity not included.

Matica slovenská is a Slovak national cultural association based in Martina. Marián Tkáč has been the chairman of Matica slovenská since 2010.

The first mention of the need to establish a Slovak Matica was made by Pavel Josef Šafařík in a letter to Ján Kollár in 1827, in response to the recently founded Matica Srpska, which was the first Slavic matrix established a year earlier (1826). Since 1831 there had been a Czech Matrix, which gave Slovaks a concrete idea of what a Matrix could look like. The idea was taken up by the revolutionary-minded Štúrovites, who included the establishment of a Slovak Matrix in the programme of their circle Vzájemnost (1837). However, their plans did not come to fruition. The establishment of the Slovak Matrix in 1863 was the result of the efforts of Slovak-oriented democrats at the 1861 Memorandum Assembly in Martin.

A temporary preparatory committee was appointed there, which drafted the statutes of the association quite quickly and submitted them to the Hungarian Governor's Council for approval as early as 1 August 1861. The committee also initiated a large national collection for the matriculation fund, which was very successful. Although most of the donors were poor farmers or craftsmen who usually gave only one kreutz each, in time there were thousands of them, and their donations grew to fifty thousand gold coins in two years. The committee was more concerned with finding a headquarters for the Matrix. Initially Brezno was chosen, and the city council gave the preliminary approval to the preparatory committee. However, on the intervention of the Hungarian Commissioner of Zvolen County, Jozef Havas, the decision was revoked. After a longer search, the choice finally fell on Memorial Martin, which announced in April 1862 that it would accept the Slovak Matrix into its bosom. The final approval of the statutes, however, had to wait another year.

Along with the matrimonial action, great preparations were underway in Slovakia for the celebration of the millennial anniversary of the arrival of Cyril and Methodius in Great Moravia. Andrej Ľudovít Radlinský and Štefan Moyzes were mainly involved in the preparation of the celebrations. The Slovak bishops were invited to take an active part, but Archbishop Jan Scitovský of Ostrich did everything possible to prevent the celebrations from taking place. The Bishop of Nitra was intimidated (Nitra was to become the centre of the national celebrations), so the larger celebrations were held only in the dioceses of Bystrica and Spiš. Despite the fact that the jubilee was not as glorious as planned, it became a great manifestation of national awareness. This was also helped by large pilgrimages to Moravia, especially to Velehrad, where the celebrations took on a truly Czech-Slovak and Slavic character. At that time, Velehrad became a mecca for Slovak pilgrims and a place where the brotherhood of Czechs, Moravians and Slovaks was strengthened.

The culmination of the Cyril and Methodius celebrations was the first general assembly of the Slovak Matrix, held on 4 August 1863 in Martin, following the confirmation of the statutes of the association by Emperor Franz Joseph I at the end of May. The founding general assembly became a great national manifestation. Moyzes' journey from Banská Bystrica to Martin resembled a triumphal march. The inhabitants of the villages he passed through gave him an enthusiastic welcome. In the end, even more people attended the Martin celebrations than the Memorial Assembly.

At the first working meeting of the members of the Matrix, the first Matrix Committee was elected. Štefan Moyzes became chairman, Karol Kuzmany and Jan Országh vice-chairmen, Pavel Mudroň and Michal Chrastek secretary, and Tomáš Červeňa treasurer. Jan Francisci was awarded the title of Honorary Chairman for his merits in obtaining the permission to establish the Matrix.

According to the statutes, the Matica was to bring together Slovak cultural, educational and scientific workers, to support the development of Slovak literature and art, to organize educational activities, to care for the development of education of the Slovak people and to raise national self-esteem. These objectives, although only partially according to the given means and circumstances, were also fulfilled by the MS. However, the fact that it was not allowed to establish local branches, as it was foreseen in the original draft of the statutes, became a major obstacle to its activities. Even so, in a short time the Matrix gained the authority of a top national cultural institution that could represent the nation abroad and establish contacts with cultural and scientific institutions of other, mainly Slavic, nations.