Slovenia

Slovenia 20 Tolarjev 1992 UNC
Front: Janez Vajkard Valvasor, Compass

Valvasor's father died when he was ten years old. At the time he was already attending the Jesuit school in Ljubljana. Graduating in 1658 at the age of seventeen, he did not choose to continue his studies at a university but decided to broaden his horizons by meeting learned men on a journey across Europe. This journey lasted fourteen years and it even took him to northern Africa. During this period, he joined the army in the Austrian-Turkish War, where he became closely acquainted with the conditions in the Military Frontier in Croatia.

Shortly after marrying Anna Rosina Grafenweger in 1672, Valvasor acquired the castle of Bogenšperk/Wagensberg near Litija (Littai), where he arranged a writing, drawing and printing workshop. Valvasor spent a fortune on the publishing of his books; towards the end of his life, his debts forced him to sell Bogenšperk Castle, his vast library and his collection of prints. In 1690, Aleksandar Ignacije Mikulić, the Bishop of Zagreb, bought his library, along with some 7300 graphics, and moved it to Croatia, where the collection became part of the Metropolitana, the library of the Zagreb Archbishopric, now part of the Croatian State Archives. Read more
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