200th anniversary of the birth of Janko Matúška

€10 silver collector coin

Janko Matúška (10 January 1821 – 11 January 1877) was a poet belonging to the new generation of Slovak intelligentsia around Ľudovít Štúr (the ‘Štúrovci’). He was born into a landowning family in Orava, a region in the north of what is now Slovakia. During his studies at the Lutheran Lyceum in Pressburg (now Bratislava), he supported the activities of Štúr’s group. He wrote poems, but was also attracted by historical topics, ballads, verse legends, and drama. He is famous for writing the lyrics of a song that became the Slovak national anthem in the 20th century. He wrote them out of indignation at the dismissal of Ľudovít Štúr from a teaching position at the Lyceum. After his studies, he worked as a civil servant in his native Orava. From 1851 to 1870 he worked in government offices, before becoming Clerk of the County Court in Dolný Kubín. Matúška was a local organiser of the 1848/49 Revolution, and in 1849 he had to hide in the mountains, where he fell ill. In later life he was forced to retire because of health problems, suffering from them until his death. His literary works, although modest in number, are among the gems of Slovak romantic literature.