Banknotes of Slovakia 5000 Korun banknote 1999 General Milan Rastislav Štefánik
National Bank of Slovakia - Národná banka Slovenska
The front of the banknote shows the portrait of Milan Rastislav Stefanik (21 July 1880 - 4 May 1919), an outstanding diplomat, politician, soldier, and astronomer. The elements printed on the left side of his portrait illustrate the sun and the moon, representing a part of his life which he dedicated to research and observations in the field of astronomy.
The back of the banknote shows Stefanik´s Memorial on Bradlo Hill with a depiction of the constellation Ursa Major running through the design. Pasque Flowers feature on the right-hand side.
Dimensions: 82 x 164 mm ± 1,5 mm
Designer: academic painter Jozef Bubák
Engraver: Vaclav Fajt
Manufacturer: Giesecke & Devrient, Munich, Germany (1995, 1999),
Österreichische Banknoten und Sicherheitsdruck GmbH, Wien, Austria (2003).
Slovak Koruna Banknotes
General Milan Rastislav Štefánik
Milan Rastislav Štefánik (born July 21, 1880, Košariská (Kosaras), Austria-Hungary [now in Slovakia]—died May 4, 1919, near Bratislava, Czechoslovakia [now in Slovakia]) was a Slovak politician, diplomat, astronomer and general who, with Tomáš Masaryk and Edvard Beneš, helped found the new nation of Czechoslovakia in 1918–1919.
After study at the University of Prague, from which he received a doctorate of philosophy in 1904, Štefánik went to Paris. Joining the staff of the astronomical observatory at Meudon, he served on scientific expeditions to Africa, the Americas, and Oceania. Becoming a naturalized French citizen, he joined the army after the outbreak of World War I and eventually was drawn to the Czechoslovak liberation movement. Encouraged by the French government, he was sent on military and political missions to the United States, Russia, Italy, and other Allied powers. In 1918 he became minister of war in the provisional Czechoslovak government. As one of the leading members of the Czechoslovak National Council (i.e. resistance government), he contributed decisively to the cause of Czechoslovak sovereignty. (The status of Czech- and Slovak-populated territories, among others, was in question until shortly before the disintegration of Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918.).
Štefánik wanted to return home to see his family. He decided to fly from Campoformido by Udine in Italy and to use an Italian military plane, a Caproni Ca.3. On May 4, 1919 around 11am, his plane tried to land near Bratislava (which was a military conflict area between the First Republic of Czechoslovakia and the Hungarian Soviet Republic at that time), but crashed near Ivanka pri Dunaji. Štefánik died along with two Italian officers.
Štefánik's personal motto was: To Believe, To Love and To Work (Veriť, milovať, pracovať).
Štefánik's tomb was built in 1927-1928 on the Bradlo hill in Brezová pod Bradlom. The monumental yet austere memorial was designed by Dušan Jurkovič.