Description

The Hungarian National Museum traces its foundation to 1802, when Count Ferenc Széchényi set up the National Széchényi Library. This would then be followed a year later by the donating of a mineral collection by Széchényi’s wife. This led to the creation of the Hungarian National Museum as a general history and natural history museum, beyond being simply a library. For this occasion’s 220th anniversary the Hungarian National Museum released a commemorative medal, which was made by our workshop.

Diameter: 80 mm
Material: silver (patinated), silver-plated bronze and bronze
Designer: Gábor Benő Pogány sculptor
Made by: ÉremVerde® – Szabó Tamás ötvös
Produced in: 2022

The medal is not available for purchase in our webshop.

The medal shows the most prominent central element of the museum building designed by Mihály Pollack. The composition of the tympanum of the facade with its sculptures was designed by the Munich sculptor Ludwig Schaller, but it was carved by the Italian sculptor Raffael Monti, it is therefore attributed to him. In the center Pannonia is displayed as a female figure, holding a laurel wreath in each hand, which she hands to the personification of science and art on the right, and to the personification of history and fame on the left. The symmetrical composition of the medal is emphasized by the two central Corinthian columns supporting the tympanum.
On the back of the medal, in the upper center, in a circular inscription: HUNGARIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM. At the bottom, a semicircular coronation robe is completely filling half of the medal, which is the museum’s most precious and emblematic artifact. In the center, a detail of the coronation robe, the figures of King St. Stephen and Queen Gisela can be seen. The mantle is one of the Hungarian coronation insignia, which Queen Gisela donated to the Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Székesfehérvár in 1031.