Silver, weight 26.86 g, diameter 39.36 mm. Medal minted in 1786 by Jan Filip Holzhausser to commemorate King Stanislaw August Poniatowski's funding of the cross-cutting of a canal between the Pripyat and Bug rivers. In 18th century Poland, rivers were the main transportation routes used to float goods. To facilitate trade, numerous canals and cross-cuts between the largest watercourses were built. On the initiative of Michal Oginski, the voivode of Vilnius, work began on the construction of a canal between the tributaries of the Bug and Pripyat rivers, which was to lead to the creation of one of the largest transportation routes in Poland at the time, connecting the Baltic Sea with the Black Sea. Unfortunately, the funds raised for this purpose proved insufficient. For this reason, the initiative was joined by King Stanislaw August himself, who decided to finance further work on the construction of the canal.
