Coin Commemorates Academy of Sciences Anniversary

The National Bank of Hungary (MNB) is issuing a silver collector coin with a face value of HUF 20,000 and its non-ferrous metal version of HUF 3,000 on the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. In addition to the collector coins, the MNB is issuing one million copies of a HUF 200 commemorative circulation coin with a thematic side aligned with the bicentenary.

At the National Assembly in Pozsony (today's Bratislava, Slovakia) of 1825, Count István Széchenyi bestowed a year’s income of his estates towards the formation of the Hungarian Society of Scholars. The predecessor of today’s Hungarian Academy of Sciences held its inaugural meeting on November 17, 1830 in Pozsony, and the institution soon became the main organiser of Hungarian intellectual life.

The commemorative circulation coin was designed by goldsmith János Balázs Bitó, while the obverse and the reverse of the collector coins were designed by sculptors Gábor Veres and Mihály Fritz, respectively.

The primary role of the coins being issued now is to transfer value and raise awareness. The public may encounter the commemorative circulation coin in cash transactions while making everyday purchases. Collector coins, however, are not to be used in everyday payments. The face value displayed on the collector coins is meant to preserve their value to collectors.