Item: i98549


 Authentic Coin of:

Belarus
The Belts of Slutsk
2013 Proof Silver 20 Roubles 50mm (33.62 grams) 0.925 Silver (0.9998 oz. ASW)
Reference: KM# A527 | Mint: CJSC "Lithuanian Mint", Vilnius, Lithuania | Engraver: S.Nekrasova (Belarus)
Certification: NGC  PF 69 ULTRA CAMEO 2864289-001 
РЭСПУБЛІКА БЕЛАРУСЬ 2013 Ag 925 20 РУБЛЁЎ, State Coat-of-Arms of the Republic of Belarus, colorized fragment of a two-faced reversible belt produced by the manufactory of Slutsk (1760(1762)–1776) and exhibited in the Minsk Regional Museum of Local Lore; the belt’s fragment is reproduced with the help of pad-printing technique.
СЛУЦКІЯ ПАЯСЫ. МЕТКІ SLUCK, MEFECIT/SLUCІAЕ., IOANNES.MADZARSKI, ВЬГРДЪ/СЛУЦКЪ//ЛЕО.МА/ЖАРСКІ, Font composition based on textile markings of belts of Slutsk and a stylized fragment of a map of Slutsk in XVII – beginning XVIII centuries, reflecting the time, place and authorship of their creators.

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Kontush belt ("kontusz sash" or the Slutsk sash; Lithuanian: Kontušo juosta, Belarusian: Слуцкi пояс) was a cloth sash used for girding a kontusz (a robe-like garment). It was one of the most distinctive items of male dress of Polish and Lithuanian nobility (szlachta) from about 17th through the 19th centuries. In an earlier period, sometimes narrower sashes of fine cloth or silk net were worn, but the wide kontusz sash is specific to the later period.

Like the rest of Polish national dress, the kontusz sash was of eastern origin. It comprised a 3- to 4.5-meter-long strip of fabric covered with varied designs, around 40 cm wide. Luxurious sashes were made with silk and gold. Depending on the sash's width, it might be folded a number of ways so as to reveal various designs on various occasions, the most ornate sashes were considered to have four sides.

Initially such sashes were imported from Persia and Turkey. In the 17th century several sash manufactories were founded at places all over Rzeczpospolita, such as Kobyłka, Lipków, Hrodna, Kraków and Gdańsk. The largest and most notable manufacturies, however, were at Slutsk. Sashes produced there were considered the most desirable and were also the most expensive. Because of the popularity of the pas kontuszowy produced there, it was sometimes called pas słucki (Slutsk sash), regardless of the actual place of origin. Slutsk (city of Slutsk) sashes had two different color patterns on each side. A modern Polish poet and a singer, Jacek Kaczmarski, has sung about those sashes in one of his ballads, Z pasa słuckiego pożytek (The uses of a Slutsk sash).

Slutsk sash is declared to be a cultural heritage of Belarus. Kontush Sash an Attribute of a Nobleman. THe Kontush Sash (belt) has an oriental provenance rooted in Persian and Turkish tradition. Continual contact between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Persia and even more with Turkey developed vast trade roots and raised popular interest in oriental art and decoration all over “Eastern” Europe. The Ideology of Sarmathism created in the XVIc a wide super-ethnos embracing many Central European nations. The Kontush Belt was a visual manifestation of Sarmathian identity and was widely popular in Lithuania and Belarus, in Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, Saxony, Moldavia, Besarabia and some parts of Russia. Kontush belts were worn by the Nobility, Cossack elders and high municipal officials. The time of prosperity during the period of XVI – XVIIIc created surplus financial resources often channeled into culture, art and decoration. Polish Armenian merchants imported objects of luxury: oriental carpets, weapons decorated with gold and stones, expensive fabrics. Kontush belts especially emphasized the status of the bearer and were unusually expensive. At a certain moment the demand for Kontush belts became so large that it was necessary to open local manufacturing on the territory of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The workshops producing Kontush Belts in Slutsk, Grodno, Lvov, Vilnius, Buchach, Kobylki, Kraków, Gdansk, Lipkow were opened mostly by Polish–Lithuanian Armenians. The belts that were made there still had a lot of oriental ornamentation, but had their own distinct character – different from the belts formerly imported from Persia and Turkey. There was a practical aspect to the belt as well. Folded in half and wrapped around the body, it served as a pocket for money and documents. Most belts are about 30 cm wide and around 3,5m long. As a result of the weaving technique – one side of the belt was a negative of the other. This way it was possible for the belt to have two different color schemes (so called two-sided belt). Further division of the belt allowed for four color compositions (four-sided belt). The price of the belt depended on the materials used (sometimes they added silver and gold thread). The complexity of the design raised the price even more since it required more complicated manufacturing machinery, higher qualifications of the craftsmen and a longer production cycle. The four-sided belts were the most expensive. They were meant to be worn on different occasions: bright side – for weddings, dark side for funerals, green side for the green kontush etc. Very often the belt served as a table decoration – it was placed on the center atop the table cloth.

Slutsk (officially transliterated as Sluck, Belarusian: Слуцк; Russian: Слуцк; Polish: Słuck, Lithuanian: Sluckas, Yiddish/Hebrew: סלוצק Slutsk) is a city in Belarus, located on the Sluch River 105 km (65 mi) south of Minsk. As of 2010, its population is of 61,400.^[2] Slutsk is the administrative center of Slutsk District.

The city is situated in the south-west of its Region, 26 km (16 mi) north of Soligorsk.

Slutsk was first mentioned in writing in 1116. It was part of the Principality of Turov and Pinsk, but in 1160 it became the capital of a separate principality. From 1320–1330 it was part of the domain of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Later it was owned by the Olelkovich and Radziwiłł families, which transformed it into a center of the Polish Reformed Church with a gymnasium and a strong fortress.

Following the 17th century, the city became famous for manufacturing kontusz belts, some of the most expensive and luxurious pieces of garment of the szlachta. Because of the popularity of the cloths made here, belts worn over the żupan were often called of Slutsk despite their real place of origin.

Slutsk was part of Russian Empire after Second Partition of Poland in 1793. It was occupied by Germany in 1918 and by Poland between 1919 and 1920 during Polish Soviet War. In 1920, it was the centre of a major anti-bolshevik uprising known as the Slutsk defence action. In 1926, there were 8,358 Jews (53.3% of the total population) in Slutsk.^{[citation needed]} Until World War II and the Slutsk Affair, the city was predominantly Jewish; however, now the population includes no more than 100 Jews. Slutsk was occupied by the German Army on 26 June, 1941, and placed under the administration of Reichskommissariat Ostland. The period of German occupation ended on 30 June, 1944, when troops of the 1st Belorussian Front recaptured the town during the Minsk Offensive of the Red Army.

Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus covers an area of 207,600 square kilometres (80,200 sq mi), with a population of 9.4 million, and is the thirteenth-largest and the twentieth-most populous country in Europe. The country is administratively divided into seven regions, and is one of the world's most urbanized, with over 40% of its total land area forested. Minsk is the country's capital and largest city.

Until the 20th century, different states at various times controlled the lands of modern-day Belarus, including Kievan Rus', the Principality of Polotsk, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Russian Empire. In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution in 1917, different states arose competing for legitimacy amidst the Civil War, ultimately ending in the rise of the Byelorussian SSR, which became a founding constituent republic of the Soviet Union in 1922. After the Polish-Soviet War, Belarus lost almost half of its territory to Poland. Much of the borders of Belarus took their modern shape in 1939, when some lands of the Second Polish Republic were reintegrated into it after the Soviet invasion of Poland, and were finalized after World War II. During WWII, military operations devastated Belarus, which lost about a quarter of its population and half of its economic resources. The republic was redeveloped in the post-war years. In 1945, the Byelorussian SSR became a founding member of the United Nations, along with the Soviet Union.

The parliament of the republic proclaimed the sovereignty of Belarus on 27 July 1990, and during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Belarus declared independence on 25 August 1991. Following the adoption of a new constitution in 1994, Alexander Lukashenko was elected Belarus's first president in the country's first and only free election post-independence, serving as president ever since. Lukashenko's government is widely considered to be authoritarian and human rights groups consider human rights in the country to be poor. Belarus is the only country in Europe officially using the death penalty. Lukashenko continued a number of Soviet-era policies, such as state ownership of large sections of the economy. In 2000, Belarus and Russia signed a treaty for greater cooperation, forming the Union State.

Belarus is a developing country ranking very high in the Human Development Index. It has been a member of the United Nations since its founding; and a member of the CIS, the CSTO, the EAEU, and the Non-Aligned Movement, it has shown no aspirations for joining the European Union but nevertheless maintains a bilateral relationship with the Union, and likewise participates in two EU projects: the Eastern Partnership and the Baku Initiative.