The national bank introduced new forint coins in Hungary!

The Hungarian national bank introduced new forint coins to commemorate the 300th anniversary of creating the Hungarian National Archives and the 100th anniversary of building its headquarters in Buda Castle. Furthermore, they issued a new coin respecting one of the popular Hungarian folk tales. Here is how they look.

According to pestbuda.hu, one side of the coin depicts the “chest of the country” in which the monarchs’, aristocrats’ and counties’ documents were kept. The other side of the coin has the building of the central archives designed by Samu Pecz. Now, the Hungarian National Archives hold 90 kilometres of documents.

The institution has been introducing commemorative coins since 1969, Barnabás Virág, the bank’s deputy head, highlighted in a press conference. The bank issued silver coins (HUF 15,000, EUR 39) and their non-ferrous metal counterpart (HUF 3,000, EUR 7.8). The designer of both coins was Gábor Kereszthury. Here is a photo of them:

New forint coins commemorating Hungarian folk tales

There are two types of the silver type coin: proof (7,000 pieces) and BU (7,000 pieces). Interestingly, the silver coin depicts the Hungarian National Archives with its original spire. However, the spire’s colour is different because it does not exist now. It was dismantled after WWII since it suffered too much damage during the siege of Budapest, the second-longest siege during WWII after Stalingrad.

István H. Németh, a Historian of the national archives, said we know little about the so-called “country chest”. The palatines kept it safe, and it held, for example, copies of international contracts. The first Hungarian national archive (Archivum Regni) was created in 1723, starting operation in 1756.

The other forint coin introduced by the Hungarian national bank depicts one of the most famous Hungarian folk tales titled “The Salt”. It is made of non-ferrous metals (Cu, Zn, Ni). The designers are Fanni Vékony and András Szilos, and it is worth HUF 3,000 (EUR 7.8). It is the third member of a series of commemorative coins to present Hungarian folk tales. The program began in 2021.