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Guardians of the Holy Crown in Hungary – VIDEO
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It was 40 years ago when US President Jimmy Carter returned the Holy Crown to the Hungarian people (on January the 6th of 1978).
The crown fell into the possession of the United States at the end of the Second World War. The guardians of the crown made every effort to keep the Holy Crown in the country, but finally, they couldn’t prevent this to happen. It is difficult to say what would have been its fate if it stays in the country, but it is sure, that his return arose the questions about its safety.
Our film wants to draw the attention to the guardians of the Holy Crown. Their responsibility can be understood only if we recognize:
the crown is not just a historical object, it has its own legal personality.
This means, that in Hungarian public law the crown had a significant role from the founding of the Hungarian state (1000 A.D.). This can be named as a „tradition” (later it is called the Doctrine of the Holy Crown). In a nutshell: a Hungarian ruler was only considered a legitimate king if crowned with the Holy Crown. No other crowns would substitute this procedure. Over time, the following perception grew permanent: all power comes from the Holy Crown itself, the King is only the representative of this power. To our knowledge, this state-theoretical conception is unique and unprecedented in the world. Perhaps this is the reason the crown has accompanied us all along in our history, from St. Stephen to our present day?
Besides being a unique symbol of our statehood, it also deserves special attention as a fine arts work. Tons of fine art studies and essays were written on this subject. Still, the experts don’t understand, how its enamel paintings were made. Even with modern technology, we can’t create something as sophisticated yet.