The Old Town Execution - also known as the execution of 27 Czech lords - was an unusually cruel retaliation for the uprising of the Protestant Czech states, which was directed against the rule of the Catholic Habsburgs. One of the darkest events in Czech history, which took place 400 years ago, is commemorated by a set of four silver coins of the Czech Mint. Each coin is minted from two troy ounces of pure silver in the piedfort design - this means that the coins are twice as thick as traditional mintages.

The set will introduce you the actors, the venue and the tragic consequences of the Old Town execution:

• Hangman Mydlář - Executions were entrusted to Jan Mydlář, who stood on the fringes of society but was able to gain respect and recognition. The purpose of his craft was to shield the heads or hanging of convicts, but also torture. It did not matter if the person was simple or noble - the professional did his job.
• Old Town Square - The executioner's podium with a block of wood and hangman´s rope grew directly under the windows of the Old Town Hall, where the convicts spent their last night. The cruel theater attracted thousands of curious people and the army supervised the observance of order.
• Czech Lords - Most of the representatives of the defeated Bohemian Revolt remained in the Czech lands in the hope that the emperor's retribution would be moderate. They were wrong and the hangman sent 3 convicted lords, 7 knights and 17 burghers to the other world.
• The Dark Age - One tragedy after another followed our nation after the defeat of the Czech states. Emperor Ferdinand II. abolished the validity of Rudolf's majesty, which guaranteed religious freedom, and laid the foundations of Habsburg absolutism.

The author of all four coins is the medal maker Mgr. Zbyněk Fojtů. The individual reverse sides present Jan Mydlář with the instruments of death - four swords, an executioner's block of wood and a hangman´s rope; Old Town Hall with execution stage; a whistling sword that leaves behind the names of the executed; Ferdinand II., Habsburg eagle and scattered Rudolf's majesty. Since the Czech Mint's coins are licensed by a foreign issuer, the island of Niue, their obverse side bears its necessary attributes - the national emblem, the nominal value of 5 DOLLARS (NZD) and the year of issue 2021. All this is supplemented with an Old Town sidewalk with twenty-seven crosses.

The four-part set of coins is stored in a luxurious wooden box.