The fifth set of two gold thalers from the Czech Mint's Royal Couples series, which pays tribute to important historical couples, is dedicated to John of Luxembourg and Elizabeth of Bohemia.

The wedding of John of Luxembourg and Elizabeth of Bohemia was a spectacular event of European importance. Their union was to end a long period of political chaos in Bohemia. This came after the unexpected extinction of the Přemyslid dynasty by the sword, when King Wenceslas III was murdered. Two foreign rulers were struggling for the Bohemian throne at the time - Henry of Carinthia, who was the husband of Elizabeth´s older sister Anne of Bohemia, and Rudolf of Habsburg, the second husband of Elizabeth´s stepmother Elizabeth Richeza of Poland . Influential Czech nobles and church leaders, however, did not want either of them on the throne, and so they hatched a plan to marry the last unmarried Přemyslid woman, who was Wenceslas III's sister, Elizabeth of Bohemia. John of Luxembourg was chosen as her husband for a simple reason - his powerful father was the Roman king and future emperor of the Luxembourg counts, Henry VII. The bold plan worked and John and Elizabeth ascended to the Bohemian throne, but their relationship was not ideal. John gained a rebellious country and a perhaps overconfident wife who sought to restore the rule in the spirit of the Premyslid dynasty. Elizabeth gained a strong and capable husband, but one who neglected and indebted the kingdom and most of all devoted himself to chivalry. The marriage of convenience eventually turned into open hostility. John took the children away from Elizabeth so that she would not set them against him. Elizabeth rebelled and occupied Prague with her army. Although the king and queen sought to find a way to each other, they never became closer...

"In creating the common obverse side of the thalers, I have freely based my design mainly on the well-known busts of the triforium of St. Vitus Cathedral, as well as on the faces preserved in book painting, on seals and on coins. The predominantly negative mutual relationship of this royal couple is expressed by the positioning of the heads. A symbolic motif is the lonely boyish figure of the future Emperor Charles IV. At one point, he became a hostage and, in fact, a prisoner of his father, who wanted to force his mother Elizabeth to be obedient," says academic sculptor Michal Vitanovský. "There is an abundance of well-used themes in the biography of John of Luxembourg, and the king's reverse side captures a sample of his remarkable coinage. In addition to coins made of silver from Kutná Hora, it also depicts John's rare florin, the first gold mintage of the time north of the Alps. The Queen's reverse side is based thematically on her lifelong connection to the glorious past of the Přemyslid family. Elizabeth did not just dwell on nostalgia, but tried to somehow restore the vanished Premyslid glory. However, the changed political situation in Europe did not allow for such a thing," adds the author of the thalers and an expert on Czech history.

The pair of thalers is stored in an elegant wooden box, the lid of which is decorated with the personalities of the king and queen symbolised by chess pieces. The package also includes an illustrated certificate of authenticity with an accompanying word by the author.