“Tykocin”: a new NBP commemorative coin
Narodowy Bank Polski is putting into circulation commemorative coins of the series “Discover Poland”, with a face value of 5 złoty.
Narodowy Bank Polski has announced that a new commemorative coin of the series “Discover Poland” – “Tykocin” will be available for sale as of tomorrow.
The 5 złoty commemorative coin, with the reverse featuring the image of the Holy Trinity Church in Tykocin, has been minted in circulation standard in up to 1,000,000 pieces. It will be possible to exchange the coin at its face value at all NBP regional branches.
The Baroque Holy Trinity Parish Church in Tykocin is one of the most beautiful monuments of the old Polish period. The construction of a brick Christian temple in the town is closely connected with the idea to regulate its development according to the rules of Baroque urban planning, implemented from the 1740s by the owner of Tykocin, Jan Klemens Branicki, the Grand Hetman of the Crown.
In addition to the construction of the parish church, the reorganisation of the town resulted in the transformation of the Christian square into a representative town square with the erection of a monument to Stefan Czarniecki in its centre (1763), the rebuilding of the Great Synagogue in the Jewish quarter and the building of a new Bernardine monastery.
The Holy Trinity Church, closing the eastern frontage of the regulated market square, was built in 1742-1749. The body itself was erected in 1742-1745, probably to a design by the architect Thomas Belloti II, while further work was taken over by Branicki’s court architect – Jan Henryk Klemm. He made corrections to the original plan and designed the church’s façade, bell towers, arcaded links to the façade and a gate with busts of the Evangelists (1748-1749). Around 1775, a stepped gable designed by the Białystok-based architect Józef Sękowski was added over the tympanum of the façade.
The church is a three-nave orientated wall-and-pillar basilica with side aisles in the form of a row of connected side chapels. Its three-bay body was built on a rectangular plan, with a chancel of the height and width of the nave. On both sides of the façade there are square two-storey bell towers, projecting in front of its face. They are connected to the body of the church by single-storey, three-bay semicircular galleries, which enhances the effect of the temple dominating the entire market space.
The church’s furnishings are late Baroque and Rococo. Most of them were commissioned by Hetman Branicki in the workshops of the best artists and craftsmen in Warsaw, while other elements were made by his employees from the Branicki Palace in Białystok. The main altar contains the ‘Holy Trinity’ painting by Szymon Czechowicz, the artist commissioned by many magnate families of the time. In the present décor of the basilica, attention is drawn to two full-figure portraits: of Jan Klemens Branicki and his third wife Elżbieta (Izabela) Branicka, née Poniatowska, painted by Antoni Tallmann and transferred to the church in Tykocin at the beginning of the 19th century.
The Baroque Basilica is separated by an iron fence with a gate located on the axis of the façade. It is formed by two tall rectangular columns with tent-shaped canopies bearing the busts of the four Evangelists by the sculptor Johann Chrysostomus Redler.
The subordination of the entire city to the overriding market and church composition in accordance with the Baroque urban planning principles, as seen in Tykocin, was exceptionally rare in the pre-partition Polish Republic.
More information can be found in the brochure.
The next issue is scheduled on 27 May 2025. On that day, Narodowy Bank Polski will be putting into circulation a silver collector coin with a face value of 10 złoty “Jasna Góra – the Spiritual Capital of Poland” of the “In Poland I Believe” series.
Contact:
Contact for collectors: e-mail kolekcjoner@nbp.pl, tel. +48 22 185 17 05
Contact for the media: e-mail press@nbp.pl, tel. +48 22 185 2012
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About NBP
Narodowy Bank Polski holds the exclusive right to issue banknotes and coins in Poland. All currency issued by NBP, including collector banknotes and coins, is legal tender in Poland. Issuing collector items is an occasion to commemorate historic figures and anniversaries as well as to develop the interest of the public in Polish culture, science and tradition.
High-resolution images of the coins: https://nbp.pl/en/coins-and-banknotes/collector-coins/catalogue/