Tajikistan - 500 Somoni 2010 Issue

Five Hundred SomoniBrief Description

Governor - Mr Sharif Rahinzoda

Dimensions – 162mm x 71mm

Prefix number series - AA/**

Dated - 2010 (Released 10 September 2010)

Obverse - Farrid-udding Abu Abdullah Jafar ibn Mohammad (Raduki) was a Persian poet, and is regarded as the first great literary genius of modern Persian who composed poems in the new Persian script. He was born in 858 in Rudak, a village located in Panjakent, in Tajikistan. Despite being the court poet to the Samanid ruler Nasr ll (914-943) in Bukhara, he eventually fell out of favour and his life ended in poverty. He died in ca 941. His lifetime of achievement has been remembered by commemorative postage stamps issued by Iran, and also a statue erected in Panjaken, Tajikistan.

Reverse - The Presidential residence, which is also known as the Palace of Nations in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. This building was built on land once owned by the Jewish community (Dushanbe or Bukharian Synagogue). The government commenced demolishing the Jewish ritual buildings and school on the land in February 2006 as part of the new development to make way for the new Presidential Palace. The demolition was briefly delayed due to international protests and court actions and not until June 2008 when the demolition of the old building was finally completed. It should be noted that the Tajikistan Government later donated a plot of 1,500 square meters of vacant land on the banks of Dushanbe river on the west side of the city for the construction of a new Synagogue. The new Dushanbe Synagogue was completed in May 2009.