Exactly 200 years have passed since the birth of Janek Matúška in 2021. The author of the Slovak anthem is commemorated on a silver coin issued by the National Bank of Slovakia.

Janko Matúška loved the Slovak language and paid tribute to it as a romantic poet, novelist and playwright as well as a proud patriot. He tried to capture feelings and atmosphere rather than a story in his works. His patriotic poems and verse tales gained the greatest fame. He was inspired by folklore, but occasionally he also devoted himself to shorter poetry, songs and rhymes. His role model was Ľudovít Štúr himself, whom he met while studying at the Bratislava Lyceum. After pedagogue Štúr was released for political reasons, 22 students decided to leave with him to protest. Matúška, who was one of the most prominent representatives of the Štúr generation, could not miss them. The students chose Levoča as their goal and on a long journey they sang Matúšek's poem Ponad Tatrou blýska to the melody of the folk song Kopala studienku. They certainly did not know that the anthem of free Slovaks was heard for the first time at that time…

The reverse side of the coin, which was processed by Mgr. art. Petr Valach, presents a faithful portrait of Janek Matúška, supplemented with his name, signature and life dates, together with a nominal value of 10 EURO. The obverse side of the coin is dominated by a facsimile of the period text of the Slovak anthem, together with a view of Orava Castle, which symbolizes the place of the artist's life. The composition of the obverse is supplemented with the coat of arms of the Slovak Republic.

The coin in quality standard was minted by the Slovak Mint Mincovňa Kremnica.