Niue, a sovereign state in free association with New Zealand, uses two official legal tender currencies. The New Zealand Dollar is the circulation currency for daily transactions, while the government also authorises legal tender coins in the Niue Dollar currency for collector's purposes.
A number of mints issue a large variety of commemorative and collector coins under the authority of Niue. These coins are dedicated to historical or general popular culture themes not related to Niue itself. Many of them are in standard bullion sizes - such as a tenth ounce of gold (abbreviated as 1/10 oz Au, where "Au" comes from the Latin word for gold, Aurum).
This coin is part of a four coin series by the Czech Mint marking the 700th anniversary of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia (Bohemia later evolved into the modern state of Czechia); it is dedicated to his building projects, and shows the Hunger Wall.
The Mint says about the coin: The Hunger Wall was built between 1360-1362 from cretaceous marl quarried directly at the construction site on Petřín hill. The Czech King and Emperor Charles IV had it build for a strategic reasons, in order to strengthen the fortifications of the Prague Castle and today’s Lesser Town against attacks from the south and west. An interesting dominant of Prague stretches from Újezd to Petřín Hill through mountainside across the Strahov and farther to Hradčany. Originally, it was about 4.5 meters tall and 1.8 meters wide. Parts of the Hunger Wall were walkways for moving patrols, escape routes and several outpost towers, called bastions. One of them is now the basis for the main dome of the of the Štefánik Observatory.
The legend says that Charles IV summoned to work starving people, for whom the construction became a source of livelihood, hence the name of the Hunger Wall or the nicknames The Grim Reaper and The Bread. |