750 forint - 750th anniversary of Győr becoming a royal town

To honour the 750th anniversary of Győr becoming a royal town, the Magyar Nemzeti Bank is issuing a special non-ferrous metal collector coin of 750 forints making a reference to the anniversary today. With 40,000 pieces, an unusually high number of the coin will be minted. The coin was designed by sculptor Ferenc Lebó who is connected to Győr. Győr is a town in Hungary with exceptionally long history. It is one of the economic, intellectual, religious and sports centres in Western-Hungary and the county town of Győr-Moson-Sopron county. The settlement became a secular and religious centre under the reign of Stephen I of Hungary when he founded a countship and an episcopate here. Also known as the town of rivers, Győr owns its significance to its favourable geographical situation. Stephen V of Hungary added Győr to the group of royal towns in 1271, and as a result, Győr received the highest privilege under the Árpád dynasty: citizens were free to elect judges, they were granted the right to be duty free and storage rights, and they were allowed to hold markets. Under the Turkish rule, the town had a major military role as it had a border castle. After rebuilding the mediaeval town centre, transformed into a fortress in the 17-18th centuries, it became one of the most beautiful baroque towns in Hungary. At the end of the 19th century it turned into an industrial centre and it still has that significant role today. To mark the 750th anniversary of Győr becoming a royal town, the MNB is issuing a non-ferrous metal collector coin named ‘750 éves Győr’ (750 years of Győr). The 750-forint face value of this collector coin, to be minted in exceptionally high number of pieces (40,000), also refers to the anniversary. Utilising the collector coins’ role to provide education and raise awareness, the Bank wishes to focus attention on the historical past of the county town and to preserve tradition and values. The collector coins are not to be used in everyday payments. Their face value has symbolic significance and also serves to preserve the value the coins represent to collectors. As a central motif, a logo is placed on the obverse referring to the historical past of Győr with the inscription ‘GYŐR’. The rooster motif on the logo shows one of the symbols of the town, the iron rooster and evokes its legend. For many it is a symbol referring to the triumph of freedom, victory, valour and resourcefulness, as in 1598 after the iron rooster had ‘crowed’, Christian troops managed to recapture the town from the Turks. The central motif is surrounded by a string of pearls. Between the rim and the pearls the compulsory design elements of the coin are found: in a legend, at the top the lettering ‘MAGYARORSZÁG’ (Hungary), at the bottom the denomination ‘750’ and the wording ‘FORINT’, aligned centre horizontally on the left the mint mark ‘BP.’ referring to the place of production and on the right the mint year ‘2021’. The central motif on the reverse is the logo of the occasion: the 750th anniversary of Győr. There is a bastion motif in the logo, which refers to the military role the town had under Turkish rule. Similarly to the composition of the obverse the design is divided by an inner string of pearls. Outside the pearl string the lettering ‘V. ISTVÁN 750 ÉVE ADOMÁNYOZOTT KIRÁLYI VÁROSI JOGOKAT GYŐRNEK’ (Stephen V of Hungary granted royal town status to Győr 750 years ago) is placed divided by a dot at the beginning and the end of the inscription. Between the dots, at the bottom, in the middle the master mark of sculptor, Munkácsy Prize recipient Ferenc Lebó is found, who designed the coin.