Collectors are offered a 2026 Queen Jelena the Glorious commemorative coin issued by the Croatian National Bank in cooperation with the Croatian Mint.

The latest release in the series is a 2-ounce silver €6 coin with partial gold plating and a ruthenium coating in a limited release of 500 coins, priced at €249.99 each.

Queen Jelena’s name is preserved on fragments of a funerary epitaph discovered in Solin in the late 19th century.

The inscription confirmed that Jelena was the wife of King Mihajlo Krešimir II and the mother of King Stjepan Držislav, and also a ruler remembered for caring for the poor, orphans and widows.

It is precisely because of this role that she became known in history as Jelena the Glorious.

Jelena was a 10th-century queen consort of the Kingdom of Croatia who ruled alongside her husband.

Jelena famously built a tomb for herself and her husband inside the church of St. Stephen in Solin. The stone epitaph was discovered in 1898 and provided crucial genealogical evidence connecting early medieval Croatian kings.

Jelena became the queen dowager of Croatia after the death of her husband in 969. However, since her husband was succeeded by their son, a minor, she also became the regent of Croatia on behalf of her son. As such, she ruled until her own death in October 976. She is buried next to her husband in St. Mary’s

The royal inscription on her sarcophagus, an epitaph, was discovered by archaeologist Don Frane Bulic on Aug. 28, 1898. The epitaph shed light on the genealogy of early Croatian rulers.

The epitaph also shows that older rulers, prior to her son, The English translation of the Latin epitaph reads:

“In this grave rests the famous Jelena who was the wife of King Michael and mother of King Stjepan. She ruled the kingdom. On the eighth day before the Ides of October she was buried here in peace 976 years of the fourth indiction after the incarnation of the Lord, in the fifth cycle of the Moon, the seventeenth epact, and the fifth cycle of the Sun which is concurrent with the sixth.

“And she who during her life was a queen, was also the mother of orphans and the protectress of widows. May he who looks (hereon) say: ‘Lord, have mercy on her soul’!”

Commemorative designs

The coin’s designer, Nikola Vudrag, depicted Queen Jelena alongside the motif of the Velebit degenia, a plant that grows from stone and withstands the demanding conditions of the Croatian mountain range Velebit.

The degenia motif further emphasises the symbolism of endurance, strength and a legacy that has lasted for more than a thousand years.

Orders may be placed online at https://croatianmint.hr/en/news/continuation-of-the-queen-jelena-the-glorious-collector-coin-issue/.

A video on the release can be found online at www.youtube.com/shorts/Mgaz6tPlWdY.