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50 Bolivianos 1982, Bolivia

in Krause book Number: 162a
Years of issue: 1982
Signatures: Gerente: Sr. Milton Paz Cordozo, Presidente: Sr. Luis Vizcarra Cruz
Serie: 1962 Issue
Specimen of: 13.07.1962
Material: Cotton fiber
Size (mm): 155 x 67



50 Bolivianos 1982




50 Bolivianos 1982

Antonio Sucre

The engraving on banknote is made after this portrait of Antonio Sucre.

Antonio José de Sucre y Alcalá (1795-1830), known as the "Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho" (English: "Grand Marshal of Ayacucho"), was a Venezuelan independence leader who served as the fourth President of Peru and the second President of Bolivia. Sucre was one of Simón Bolívar's closest friends, generals and statesmen. The city of Sucre, Bolivia's capital, is named for him, as is a state of Venezuela and a department of Colombia.
















The coat of arms of Bolivia is on left side.







50 Bolivianos 1982

puerta del sol


It is located near Lake Titicaca at about 12,549.2 ft. (3,825.0 m.) above sea level near La Paz, Bolivia. The object is approximately 9.8 ft. (3.0 m.) tall and 13 ft. (4.0 m.) wide, and is constructed from a single piece of stone. The weight is estimated to be 10 tons.[2] When rediscovered by European explorers in the mid-19th century, the megalith was lying horizontally and had a large crack through it. It presently stands in the location where it was found, although it is believed that this is not its original site, which remains uncertain.

Some elements of Tiwanaku iconography spread throughout Peru and parts of Bolivia. Although there have been various modern interpretations of the mysterious inscriptions found on the object, the carvings that decorate the gate are believed to possess astronomical and/or astrological significance and may have served a calendrical purpose.

In the far, northwestern corner of the Kalasasaya Temple, there is one of the most remarkable monuments of the ancient world - the Gate of the Sun (Inti Punku, Puerta del Sol), carved from a single block of gray-green andesite. They are about 3 meters high, 4 meters wide and 0.5 meters thick. Weight is estimated at 10 tons. The chief researcher Tiahuanaco, Arthur Poznanski, called the Gate of the Sun "the most perfect and important work of art ... a legacy and graceful evidence of the culture, knowledge and civilization of people and their rulers."

The gate is located at the place where (once again) was found already in the XIX century. According to the engravings and the first photographs, they were split into two parts. In this case, the right half leaned over the left. According to the indigenous people, the gate split as a result of a lightning strike.

But, as E. Squier, in his book Peru. Episodes of Traveling and Research in the Land of the Incas (1877), says, The Gate of the Sun did not always have a vertical position. From him we learn that A. d’Orbigny, who visited the ruins of Tiwanaku in 1833, found them lying. However, when E. Squier worked in Tiwanaku (1860s), the gates were already raised.

puerta del sol

On engravings from the book of E. Squier, made, according to him, with photographic accuracy, both parts of the portal stand upright and go deep enough into the ground.

Who raised the gate and for what purpose? E. Squier did not find an answer to this question. Nobody knew anything about this, or, in his words, someone cared that no one would learn anything.

But, according to the Bolivian archeologist Carlos Ponce Sanjines, who led the study of Tihuanaco since the 1960s. of the last century, the gates were raised during the war of independence from Spanish domination (1810 - 1826), when Tiwanaku and the pre-Columbian past were supported by young fighters for independence, as icons of the new nation. In 1825, José Antonio de Sucre, initially called the liberator of Bolivia and then its president, ordered to dig up the Earth and raise the Gate of the Sun in Tiwanaku as a "symbol of the growth of the new nation".

Thus, the secret of lifting the gates, opened and it turned out that they were raised by people, and not by unknown forces, as was commonly thought. But then what about the testimony of A. d’Orbigny, who in 1833 saw them lying? Of course, it may be that Senor Sucre ordered them to be raised in 1825, and his order was executed after 1833. But this is unlikely, since, according to the same d'Orbigny, in 1833, the "iconoclasts" re-activated and blew up one of the temples of Tiahuanaco.

puerta del sol

At some point in time, as one of the old photos shows, most of the gates seem to have tilted so that it rested against the ground.

In 1903, the Gate of the Sun was completely dug out of the ground by the French scientific mission, headed by Georges Creca de Montfort.

puerta del sol

A. Poznanski, who began to study Tiwanaku in 1904, drew attention to the fact that the front side of the Gate of the Sun and, in particular, its relief was perfectly preserved, while their back side was badly damaged by erosion. Since the gate is cut from andesite, it takes, he said, several thousand years to wipe it out in this way. As a result, A. Poznansky came to the conclusion that the gates were face down, and after a while they were covered with alluvial soil, which allowed the front side to remain incomparably better. In this condition, they were found around 1630 by the Spanish conquistadors - "eradicators of idolatry in Peru".

puerta del sol

In Figure A. Poznanski showed how he imagines the position of the fallen gate at that time.

A. Poznanski called the "Solar Door" the "most glorious monument", the "highest example" of the third (last) period of construction of Tiwanaku. He believed that it was incomplete and assumed that it was planned to be installed in the internal sanctuary of Kalasasayi, which he called the sanctissimum (superlative from the Latin "sanctus" - sacred) or sanctum sanctorum (holy of holies) and also considered incomplete.

Some researchers believe that, in the past, the gate was part of a large building that could be placed on top of the pyramid of Acapan, where there are various pieces of the same material as this portal. Alan L. Kolata, American archaeologist, anthropologist, and ethno-historian, along with Bolivian scientists, explored Tiwanaku and its environs during the 1980s and early 1990s. XX century., Suggested that the Gate of the Sun originally stood on the platform of the eastern entrance to the platform Puma-Punku. However, most scientists are of the opinion that the Gate of the Sun is part of Kalasasayi.

Since the axis of Kalasasaya, which is considered to be an astronomical observatory, is oriented along the east-west line, some scientists have suggested that the Sun Gate could initially be installed in the center of this fenced space, and not at the northern end of its western wall, like today. However, the enormous weight of the gate testifies against their deliberate transfer and in favor of the fact that they always stood where they are now. In addition, a place near the middle of the western wall was occupied by a terrace, the center of which, in turn, was located on the east-west axis of the entire Kalasasyaya temple.

But E. Squier did not agree with this point of view. He wrote:

"They (The Gate of the Sun - F.Ó.) are not so large and not so heavy that they could not be moved by fifty people with ropes, levers and ramparts, and although we do not know any reason why they should have been removed from their the original position, we know that many of the heavy stones were moved in this way, including the monolithic entrance gate to the cemetery (Gates of the Moon - F.Ó.)."

In the lower part of the Gate of the Sun there are niches and geometrically regular cuts. Especially a lot of them on the part that is considered back. "Niches were carved in stone with amazing accuracy, the inner edges were perfectly processed. It could not be made coarse, primitive tools," writes A. Elford, after reminding that andesite is "one of the hardest rocks, and it is very difficult to process."

A. Poznanski convincingly proved that golden plates were installed on the niches of the Sun Gate, which could turn on protruding hinges or "turning pins". These loops were to be made of bronze to support the weight of the plates. And, in fact, A. d’Orbini found traces of bronze in the grooves for the pins.

puerta del sol

But the most skillful and mysterious thread is located on the upper part of the frontal side of the gate. There we see a relief image consisting of an almost three-dimensional central figure of the supreme deity and its winged satellites, also called secondary deities or winged geniuses. Total winged creatures 48 (32 with human heads and 16 with the heads of condors) - 24 (3 rows) on each side of the central figure. S. Swayer wrote:

"Winged figures with a human head and a condor head in three lines of squares are represented on one knee, with faces facing a large central figure, as if in admiration, and each of them holds a rod or scepter in front of it. Scepter figures in the two upper lines bifurcated and exactly correspond to the scepter in the left hand of the central figure, and the scepters of the lower row correspond to what is presented in the right hand. "

A. Poznanski drew attention to the fact that only five images of each row were cut out in the same relief as the figure of God, and the most extreme ones were only slightly outlined, as if they were added later. Under them is placed in the ornament a number of heads, resembling the type of the person of the supreme deity, but smaller. This ornament is called meandering. However, this is not just a meander: its elements are small, step pyramids.

But if you look into the photo, you can see that not only the figures of the satellites at the edges of the gates are only sketched, but also the corresponding parts of the lower meandering ornament. At the same time, the left edge of the frieze is less developed than the right one. E. Squier noticed that the unfinished side parts from the finished middle part are separated by a “very clear line”, which is “most pronounced in the lower tier”.

puerta del sol

He wrote:

"On both sides of this line, standing on radiant heads, which I have already mentioned, are located back to back and looking in different directions, two small, but interesting figures of people, topped with something like a feathered cap and holding something like pipes at the mouth “Although they are only three inches (7.6 cm) tall, these figures are decorated in the same way as large ones, with heads of tigers, condors, etc.”

I would also note that the Andzans used and used sea shells (pututo) as horns and pipes. But it is quite possible that the gates depict pipes similar to the one on display at the National Museum of Archeology, Anthropology and History. Such trompetos have a powerful voice that can call for solemn ceremonies. The decor of this pipe is very sophisticated and rich. It is decorated with the volume head of a regal puma, framed by a set of patterns made up of condor heads.

Friez gates are considered a calendar. Now official science agrees with this. However, when Arthur Poznanski first expressed a similar thought, his idea was reacted, to put it mildly, with great distrust. I cite the version of A. Poznanski as presented by Z. Sitchin:

"He sketched the central figure, the meander beneath it, and fifteen original bas-reliefs on each side and concluded that this is a calendar with a twelve-month period starting on the vernal equinox (September in the southern hemisphere), and that the large central figure is connected It is with this month and day of the equinox. Since at the time of the equinox the length of the day is equal to the length of the night, Poznansky suggested that the segment under the main figure in the center of the meander denotes another equinox month, that is, March. Then he put the rest of the months into alignment with the other segments of the meander. Noting that the two extreme segments together with the head of the god depicted the hornis the sun goes farthest to the north and south, that is, June and December, and when the priests blow the horn, urging him to return. In other words, the Gate of the Sun is a stone calendar.

According to Poznanski, it was a solar calendar. In it, not only the beginning of the year was tied to the moment of equinox, but the second equinox and solstice days were also indicated. In this calendar there were eleven months of thirty days (the number of winged satellites of God above the meander) plus a “big month” of thirty-five days, the month of Viracocha, totaling 365 days of the solar year.

Poznansky should have noticed that the year consisting of twelve months and starting on the day of the vernal equinox formed the basis of the first Middle Eastern calendar, introduced by the Sumerians in Nippur around 3800 BC.

Images of God, as well as his winged satellites and faces-months at first glance seem realistic, but in fact consist of many specific elements, mostly geometric in shape. Poznanski carried out serious work on the study of these elements found on other monuments. He classified them according to the depicted object (animal, fish, eye, wing, star, etc.) or concept (Earth, sky, movement, etc.). Poznansky also found out that circles and ovals of various colors and sizes are used to designate the Sun, Moon, planets, comets and other celestial bodies, that the bas-relief often contains a display of the Sky-Earth connection and that the dominant symbols are the cross and steps. In the last element, the stairs, he saw the "trademark" of Tiwanaku - his monuments and all of civilization - from which this symbol spread throughout America. He acknowledged that this sign resembles the ziggurats of Mesopotamia, but questioned the possibility of the presence of the Sumerians in Tiwanaku.

All these features reinforced the feeling of Poznanski that the Gate of the Sun is part of a large complex in Tiwanaku, which served as an observatory ... ( .rus)

Denominations in numerals are on left and right sides. In words - at the bottom.