Each of us in Latvia has a place that feels a little closer to the heart, a little warmer than all the others. A place where generations before us have lived and worked, laying the foundation for our own life stories.
For me, that place is in the Preiļi region. After taking part in the freedom fights in the early 1920s, my great-grandfather, Staņislavs Upeniks, had the chance to buy a piece of land on the edge of a small town, right where the pastures once were. Before long, he built a log house there with his own hands—a house whose hearth still radiates warmth today.
It is from the yard of that very house that the small piece of land comes, which I’ve depicted in the design of Latvijas Banka’s new €10 gold collector coin, "Our Land."
A coin as one square centimeter of land. Literally.
A symbol of the fact that each of us has such a corner of Latvia—worth its weight in gold, yet beyond any price.
And also a symbol of our readiness to protect our land.
From the first centimeter, to the last one.
From the first centimeter, to the last one.
Concept and design.
