100 Rubels 2009, Belarus
| no number in katalog | - |
| Years of issue: | 01.07.2016 |
| Edition: | |
| Signatures: | Старшыня праўлення Нацыянальнага банка: Пётр Пятровіч Пракаповіч (03.1998 - 07.2011) |
| Serie: | My country - Belarus |
| Specimen of: | 2009 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 151 x 72 |
| Printer: | De la Rue currency,Loughton |
* All pictures marked 
are increased partially by magnifying glass, the remaining open in full size by clicking on the image.
** The word "Specimen" is present only on some of electronic pictures, in accordance with banknote images publication rules of appropriate banks.
Description
Watermark:
Nesvizh Castle or Radziwill’s Castle (Нясві́жскі замак) and cornerstones.
About The castle please read an obverse description!
Avers:
The Nesvizh Castle or Niasvizh Castle (Belarusian: Нясвіжскі замак), as well as main entrance to the castle with oblique roof (behind main image) and the part of fretwork (on right side).
Nesvizh Castle or Niasvizh Castle (Belarusian: Нясвіжскі замак, Niasvižski zamak, Lithuanian: Nesvyžiaus pilis, Polish: zamek w Nieświeżu, Russian: Несвижский замок, Nesvizhskiy zamok) is a residential castle of the Radziwiłł family in Nesvizh, Belarus. It is 183 meters (600 ft.) above sea level.
From 1921 to 1939 the complex was in Poland and was considered one of the most beautiful Polish castles in the Kresy region.
The estate was owned by the Radziwiłł magnate family from 1533, when it was awarded to Mikołaj Radziwiłł and his brother Jan Radziwiłł after the extinction of the Kiszka family. Since the Radziwiłłs were one of the most important and wealthy clans of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, it was there that the Lithuanian Archive was moved in 1551. In 1586 the estate was turned into an ordynacja.
After the Union of Lublin the castle became one of the most important residences in the central part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
In 1582 Mikołaj Krzysztof "Sierotka" Radziwiłł, the Marshal of Lithuania, Voivode of Trakai–Vilnius and castellan of Šiauliai, started the construction of an imposing square three-storey "château". Although the works were based on a pre-existing structure of a medieval castle, the former fortifications were entirely turned into a renaissance-baroque house. Construction was completed by 1604, and they added several galleries half a century later. The château's corners were fortified with four octagonal towers.
In 1706, during the Great Northern War, Charles XII's army sacked the castle and destroyed its fortifications. Several decades later, the Radziwiłłs invited some German and Italian architects to substantially renovate and enlarge the castle. Antoni Zaleski decorated its yellow facades with baroque stucco work. The XVI-century castle gates were also reconstructed, and the two-storey gatehouse tower was crowned with a helm. It was at this time that the three separate buildings surrounding the central courtyard were joined into a single structure.
The most important structure in Nieśwież is the Corpus Christi Church (1587 to 1603), connected with the castle by a dam over a ditch and containing coffins of 72 members of the Radziwiłł family, each interred in a simple coffin made of birch and marked with Trąby coat of arms. Designed by the Italian architect Gian Maria Bernardoni (1541 to 1605), the church is considered the first Jesuit temple patterned after Il Gesù in Rome, the first domed basilica with Baroque facade in the world and the first baroque piece of architecture in Eastern Europe.
Apart from elaborate princely sepulchers, its interior features some late baroque frescoes from 1760s and the Holy Cross altar, executed by Venetian sculptors in 1583.
In 1772, following the third and last partition of Poland, the castle was seized by Russian forces and the Radziwiłł family was expelled. Soon afterwards the Lithuanian Archive was transferred to Saint Petersburg (where it still remains today), while the majority of works of art gathered in the palace were distributed among various Russian and Polish nobles in support of Catherine the Great. Abandoned both by the original owners and by the Russian army, the palace gradually fell into disrepair. However, it was restored by the Radziwiłłs and between 1881 and 1886 the castle's interiors were renovated by Prince Antoni Radziwiłł and his French wife, Marie de Castellane. They also designed a landscape park in English style. With an area of more than one square kilometer, the park is one of the biggest such facilities in Europe.
After the Polish–Bolshevik War of 1920 the surrounding area and the castle complex became part of the newly established Second Polish Republic.
During the invasion of Poland in 1939, the Radziwiłł family was expelled from the castle by the Red Army. In Soviet times, the castle was used a sanatorium, while the park gradually fell into neglect.
In 1994, the castle complex was designated the national historical and cultural reserve. In 2005 the castle complex was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
The ongoing reconstruction has drawn sharp criticism for its "unjustified reconstruction" of several long-demolished structures, notably a bell-tower. In 2002, the upper storey of the residence was destroyed by fire. Six years later, the Belarus edition of the Komsomolskaya Pravda reported that a substantial section of the castle, dating from the XVIII century, had been entirely demolished on account of "rotten brick". 
The main entrance to Nesvizh Castle with oblique roof nearby is shown behind the main image. About this entrance you can read here
At the right edge is the latent image, at the left edge - protective element MASK ™.
At the upper edge inscription: "НАЦЫЯНАЛЬНЫЙ БАНК РЭСПУБЛІКІ БЕЛАРУСЬ". Slightly to the left it posted a year (2009) and the signature of the official - the head of the National Bank of Belarus. Nominal number marked in the upper left corner and in the center of the banknote. In words vertically on the left edge and horizontally in the lower right corner (СТО РУБЛЁЎ).
Revers:
Collage dedicated to the theme of theater and folk festivals (violin, tambourine, zhaleyka, "калядная зорка" ("Christmas star"), goat, "Batleika" theater and the Slutsk sash.
Many thanks to the employee of the National Library of Belarus - Khodosevich Tatyana Anatolyevna - for help in identifying and finding images on the banknote !!!
On left side are - Калядная зорка (Kolyada star) and goat - the symbols of Svyatky.
Svyatky (holy, festive days, Kolyada) is a Slavic folk festive complex of the winter calendar period, consisting of twelve festive days "from the star to the water" (Russian Cuban), that is, from the appearance of the first star on Christmas Eve ( on Kolyada) and before the baptismal consecration of water. In some areas of Polesie, Christmas is attributed another one and a half days after the Epiphany, that is, on January 7 (20) (Winter Weddings) and half of the day on January 8 (21), which is called The Deleted Day, because it falls on the same day of the week as Christmas .
In the Christian tradition - the time from the Nativity of Christ to the Epiphany.
Centered, behind the violin, is Batleika.
Batleika or Betleika (from Betleem - the Polish name of the city of Bethlehem), the national puppet theater, mainly on religious themes. It began to develop in Byelorussia from the 16th century. It also existed under the name "Zhlob", "Bethlehem", "Yaselka", "Värtap". The emergence of Batleyki is associated with the Christmas holidays (according to the Gospel, Bethlehem - the birthplace of Christ). The spreading of the Batlejka was facilitated by the traveling seminarians. Batleyki's performances included: the religious play "Tsar Herod", the folk drama "Tsar Maximilian", genre scenes "Matej and Doctor", "Anton with the goat and Antoniha", "Volsky - the merchant of the Polish", "Berka-korchmar", "Gypsy" and gypsy, etc. These scenes were saturated with social satire, ridiculed the representatives of the exploiting classes (the landowner, the korchmar, etc.), opposing them with positive heroes from the people. A stage for Batleika's performances was a longline box, presentations were arranged in the upper and lower tiers. Wooden dolls on the rods moved along the slots in the floor of the tiers. There were Batleys, arranged on the principle of the shadow theater (Vitebsk, Velizh), and the Batleiki with changing transparent scenery (Dokshitsy). Batleika existed until the beginning of the XX century.
The violin with the bow is in the center, as well as on the right side.
The tambourine is depicted around theater Batleika.
Left of tambourine is Zhaleika.
The zhaleika (Жалейка in Russian, also known as брёлка or bryolka) is the most commonly possessed and used Russian wind instrument, also known as a "folk clarinet" or hornpipe. The zhaleika was eventually incorporated into the balalaika band, the Hungarian tarogato, and may have contributed to the development of the chalumeau, a predecessor of the clarinet.
The zhaleika consists of a single reed that can be covered by a mouthpiece (or "wind cap"). The design consists of a wooden barrel with finger holes and a flared bell that can be made of either natural or man-made materials. It can either consist of a single or double pipe. The single pipe is about 10–20 cm long with a reed made out of either cane or goose feather with an end bell made of cow horn or birch bark with 3-7 finger holes. The double pipe consists of two pipes and one bell, and is found mainly in the southern parts of Russia.
The zhaleika has diatonic tuning and comes in various keys (G,A,D, sometimes C,E,F). It has a natural or "normal" soprano voice, but can perform in alto or piccolo forms. It is tuned by adjusting the reed and can be turned to the major scale or mixolydian mode with flattened 7th note. Only an octave's worth of notes can be played. Its timbre is described as "piercing and nasal, sad and compassionate".
The zhaleika was a shepard's instrument used to perform solos, duets, or ensemble pieces. The earliest single-reed pipe instruments date back to about 2700 BCE in Egypt, where most of these instruments most commonly had double pipes and used idioglot reeds. The earliest evidence of the zhaleika was in A. Tuchkov's notes dating back to the late 18th Century. It was widely spread in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Lithuania, but now can only be seen in folk music orchestras. In 1900, V. V. Andreyev incorporated a modified zhaleika - called bryolka - into orchestras. It consisted of a double-reed oboe type with additional finger holes and vents for chromatic scale.
On background is the Polish Slutsk sash of XVIII century. The images of carnations from this sash are depicted on right and left sides of banknote.
Pas kontuszowy ("kontusz sash" or the Slutsk sash) 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 XVII through the 19th centuries. In an earlier periods, 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. Kontush Sash (belt) has oriental provenance rooted in Persian and Turkish tradition. Intense contacts between 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 XVIc a wide super-ethnos embracing many Central European nations. Kontush Belt was a visual manifestation of Sarmathian identity. Kontush belt was widely popular in Lithuania and Belarus, in Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, Saxony, Moldavia, Besarabia and some parts of Russia. Kontush belts were worn by Nobility, Cossack elders and high municipality officials. The time of prosperity over the period of XVI – XVIIIc created surplus financial resources often channeled into culture, art and decorations. 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 the certain moment the demand for the Kontush belts became so large that it was necessary to open the local manufacturing on the territory of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The workshops producing Kontush Belts in Slutsk, Grodno, Lvov, Vilno, Buchach, Kobylki, Kraków, Gdansk, Lipkow were opened mostly by Polish 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 part to it as well. Folded in half and wrapped around the body, the belt served as a pocket for money and documents. Most belts are about 30 cm wide and around 3,5 m. long. As the result of 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 to make 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 longer production cycle. The four-sided belts were the most expensive. They were meant to be worn on different occasions: bright side – for wedding, dark side for the funeral, green side for the green kontush etc. Very often the belt served as a table decoration – it was placed at the center along the table cloth.
On the left side, above the goat is a cheeked bird of happiness. This is not just an unusual decoration of the interior. Our ancestors believed in the power of the amulet and necessarily hung such a toy over the baby's crib. Before Christmas, the bird was burned in the oven. It was believed that with her burned all the bad, and necessarily cut out a new "bird of happiness."
The bird-amulet of birch is included in the List of Intangible Heritage of Belarus.
On the right and left sides are plants, that look like carnations.
Face value is indicated in top right corner. In numbers and in words (100 РУБЛЁЎ) in the bottom left corner. Series banknotes marked with the number at the left edge (vertical orientation with increasing a size, black color) and lower right (the horizontal orientation, the growing size of type, green color).
Comments:
100 Rubles 2009 with the signature of the P.P. Prokopovich issued in 5 prefixes: ЕА, ЕВ, ЕК, ЕМ, ХХ. XX Series is replacement Serie.
In addition to the common usage of series, prefix ЕС released for set of commemorative banknotes "Moja kraina - Belarus" (1000 pieces). All everyday series began arriving in the treatment of 1 July 2016. (belbonistika.com .rus)
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