The Supervisory Board of Eesti Pank declared the design Raamatuid, or Books, by Svetlin Balezdrov, as the winning design in the design competition for the two-euro coin for 500 years of Estonian as a written language.

Eesti Pank will issue the two-euro circulation coin with a special design into circulation in the first half of 2025 to mark a historically very significant moment for Estonian culture, as it will be 500 years since the first publication appeared that contained words in the Estonian language and started Estonian as a written language.

At the proposal of the panel invited by the central bank, the Supervisory Board of Eesti Pank approved the design by Svetlin Balezdrov as the winner of the design competition for the two-euro coin dedicated to 500 years of written Estonian. Svetlin Balezdrov explained that the design for the coin symbolised the Estonian literary tradition. The centre of the coin shows four stylised books forming the letter E and the design is encircled by the words “Eesti kirjakeel 500” and the years 1525 and 2025.

Second place went to another design by Svetlin Balezdrov, and third place to Riho Luuse.

The winning design

Preparations will be made to mint the coin from the winning design from the design competition, and the design may be altered for technical reasons.

The prize for the winner of the design competition is 3000 euros, with the second placed design receiving 2000 euros, and the third placed 1000.

The programme for issuing coins for 2025.

For further information:
Gerli Rauk
Communications Specialist
Eesti Pank
6680 842
Press enquiries: [email protected]