Nikola Tesla to be motif on Croatia’s future euro coin

Nikola Tesla

Famous inventor Nikola Tesla, who was born in the Croatian village of Smiljan, will be one of the motifs on the Croatian euro coin. 

The decision of the motifs for the future Croatian euro coins was made by the Croatian National Bank Currency Committee, after taking into account the opinion of citizens.  

Around 50,000 citizens voted on five motifs – the Croatian red and white checkers, a geographical map of Croatia, the kuna, the Glagolitic script and an image of Dubrovnik – while the most suggested motif by the public was that of Tesla. 

The Croatian checkers will be the base on all coins, whilst on the 2 euro coin the map of Croatia will feature. On the 1 euro coin will be the kuna, whilst Telsa will be on the 50, 20 and 10 cent coin. Glagolitic script will feature as the motif on the 5, 2, and 1 cent coin. 

Glagolitic script (Photo: Marino Pavletic/Creative Commons)

The committee will now submit their final proposal which must be considered by the National Council for the Introduction of the Euro as the Official Currency in the Republic of Croatia with the government making the final decision, the Croatian National Bank said.

Based on the selected motives, the Croatian National Bank will announce an open tender at the beginning of August for the development of a conceptual design (graphic presentation) of the national side of the euro coin.

Map of Croatia

In mid-October this year, the Croatian National Bank will send graphically designed motifs of the national side of euro coins to the European Commission and the Council of the European Union for approval to all euro area members.

According to the Croatian National Bank, the checkerboard received the highest average score, followed by a geographical map of Croatia, the Glagolitic alphabet, the kuna and Dubrovnik, with the latter motif being significantly lower than other motifs.

Citizens presented more than 11,000 of their own proposals during voting, and among them the motif of Nikola Tesla was by far the most popular with 2,599 proposals.

The most popular public proposals:

Nikola Tesla – 2599 votes; 22,8% of all votes
Tie – 1063 votes; 9,3%
Vukovar Water Tower  – 419 votes; 3,7%
Hrvatski pleter – 358 votes; 3,1% 
Dalmatian dog – 311 votes; 2,7% 
Vučedolska golubica – 276 votes; 2,4% 
Plitvice Lakes  – 223 votes; 2% 
Pula Arena – 210 votes; 1,8% 
Franjo Tuđman – 143 votes; 1,3% 
Croatian Coat of Arms  – 136 votes; 1,2% 
Kralj Tomislav – 127 votes; 1,1% 
Zagreb Cathedral – 123 votes; 1,1% 
Luka Modrić – 100 votes; 0,9% 

Croatia is expected to meet all requirements and join the eurozone in early 2023, the nation’s prime minister said earlier.

According to a public opinion poll conducted in May, 13% of Croatian citizens strongly support the introduction of the euro, and another 48% generally support it. Most citizens (56%) believe the introduction of the euro will be good for the state, but 40% of respondents think the euro will have a negative effect.