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.

Yelets (Russian: Еле́ц) is a city in Lipetsk Oblast, Russia, situated on the Bystraya Sosna River, which is a tributary of the Don. The official year of Yelets foundation is 1146. It is the year when the fortress was first mentioned in Nikonovskaya chronicle. After being destroyed several times, Yelets fortress was reconstructed in 1592, together with other fortresses on southern boundaries of the Muscovite state, and became the origin of present day city.

In 1708, local blacksmiths were registered at the ship-building branch of Azov gubernia. From 1719, Yelets became part of Oryol gubernia. Bread and meat trade was developed in the town. In the second half of the 18th century, it became a large trade and industrial center of the region. Tanning industry was developed to such an extent that Yelets was called the “Capital of Boots” of the Russian Empire.