Description
Saint Kinga is the patroness of salt miners. She was the first child of Hungarian King Béla IV and Byzantine princess Maria Laskarina. Her siblings included Saint Margaret of Hungary and Blessed Yolanda. She was the wife of Bolesław V, High Duke of Poland. She is the patron saint of Poland and Lithuania.
Saint Kinga was deeply religious from an early age, leading her to take a vow of chastity, which she also upheld during her marriage. In 1241, she supported the struggle against the Mongol invasion with her whole dowry. After the Mongol invasion, together with her husband she opened a salt mine in Wieliczka near Kraków, with miners also brought in from Hungary. This is also the root of the most famous legend associated with Saint Kinga: the story of her engagement ring which was dropped into a salt mine in the Máramaros region and was later miraculously found by miners in the Wieliczka salt mine. Using the income from the salt mine, she built monasteries, churches and hospitals, including the monastery at Ószandec (present-day Stary Sacz, Poland), where she resided after her husband’s death and remained in contemplative prayer until her own death..
legend “WIELICZKA” is integrated into the salt crystal below and at the bottom is the designer mark of E. Tamás Soltra, who focuses on the legend of the engagement ring as the central theme of the composition, creating a harmonious link to the front of the coin.
