Description

In 2002 the Central Bank of the Russian Federation began an annual program that each year commemorates some of their historical towns on bi-metallic 10 Ruble coins. The coins picture the city and its arms on one side and has the standard Russian 10 Ruble obverse on the other. Unlike a lot of coin programs throughout the world there is no set regularity to the number of coins released each year in this series, with some years seeing 4 coins issued and other years only 3.

Velikiye Luki is a town in Pskov Oblast, Russia, located on the meandering Lovat River.

Velikiye Luki is one of the oldest cities in Russia. The first time it was mentioned in the Novgorod chronicle as a town called Luki in 1166. Since the 12th century, it was part of the Novgorod principality, built as a fortress on the way to Novgorod and Pskov in 1211. In 1406, Luki was called Velikiye (Great). From 1478, when Ivan III conquered Novgorod, the town like all the Novgorod land became part of the Moscow principality. By the end of the 15th century, Velikiye Luki was one of the fortresses in a line of defense between Smolensk and Pskov, it was an important center of concentration of Russian troops. During the Livonian War, the headquarters of the Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible was located in this town (from 1558). In 1580, the fortress was captured by the Polish and Lithuanian troops of the King Stephen Bathory. In 1583, according to Yam-Zapolsky peace treaty, the town was returned to the Russian kingdom.