150th anniversary of the birth of Rudolf Maister (2024)

The general and poet Rudolf Maister, nicknamed Vojanov, the defender of Slovenia’s northern border, was born on 29 March 1874. He came to be a major figure in the history of Slovenia at the end of the First World War, when acting on his own initiative in the chaotic political situation on 1 November 1918 he declared Maribor to be a Yugoslav possession, and seized military control of the city and the entire surrounding region of Lower Styria. He ordered a mobilisation to expand the units of Slovenian soldiers, which were then modest in number. On 23 November he disarmed the German security forces that were planning to seize control of Maribor, thereby reinforcing his military position in the city, and securing Lower Styria for the newly proclaimed State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. Since 2005 Slovenia has celebrated that date as Rudolf Maister Day.

Maister was also a literary figure, from a young age. At lower grammar school he published two student magazines: Inter nos in his fourth year and Večernica in his fifth. Later he began publishing his poems in the journals Vrtec and Vesna, and subsequently in Ljubljanski zvon and the newspaper Slovenski narod. He published two collections of poetry: Poezije (Poems) in 1904, and Kitica mojih (My Stanzas) in 1929. He was a passionate collector of books, and built a private library of almost 6,000 volumes, which was donated to the University of Maribor Library in 1988, and proclaimed a cultural monument of national importance in 2018.

Slovenia is issuing collector coins to mark the 150^th anniversary of the birth of Rudolf Maister. Maister’s signature, which he used to back his military actions and acts of national consciousness, is also symbolic of his poetry and literary work, and at first glimpse is reminiscent of “Maribor”, the focus of his struggle to secure the northern border. The reverse of the coin bears a portrait of Maister in his most militarily active and poetically creative years.

Event proposed by: Robert Hlep, Nina Klun Čakš, Tomaž Podboj, Numismatic Society of Slovenia, Matej Pok

Artwork designed by: Edi Berk, Ljubljana

Minting: Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda S.A., Portugal