500 Sk 1999 - Tatra National Park -> Proof

The Tatras National Park (TANAP) is situated in the northern part of Slovakia on the frontier with Poland, and with the neighbouring Polish national park, forms a bilateral protected territory. It was declared in 1949, as a result of long term efforts to protect its unique natural features, with its rarely preserved mountain and high mountain ecosystems and unique species of flora and fauna, from growing economic and tourist use. The TANAP has an area of almost 76 thousand hectares and includes Vysoke Tatry, Belianske Tatry and Zapadne Tatry. Vysoke Tatry (The High Tatras) are the highest mountains in Slovakia and in the whole Carpathian arc. The main ridge measures only 26 km, making the Tatras one of the smallest in area among the high mountain ranges of the world, but at the same time, one of the most beautiful. A large number of features of scenic beauty are concentrated in this small area: high mountain peaks, glaciated valleys, lakes, waterfalls, a varied range of plants and animals. The highest peak is Gerlachovsky stít (2655 m). Obverse: An adult and a young Tatran chamois and Leontopodium alpinum flowers are depicted against a rock wall on the obverse of the coin. The coat of arms, the name of the state SLOVENSKA REPUBLIKA, the initials of the designer Milan Vircik and the Kremnica mintmark are placed in the lower part of the coin. Reverse: The characteristic high mountain massif of the Vysoke Tatry and the face value of the coin appear on the upper half of the reverse of the coin. Gentiana clusii flowers and the name of the national part TATRANSKY NARODNY PARK are placed below the massif, with the dates 1949 - 1999, indicating the year the Tatras were declared a National Park and its fiftieth anniversary.