Magyar News, 1999. szeptember-2000. augusztus (10. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2000-04-01 / 8. szám
Dr L. S. Étire: The Holy Crown Concept as the Embodiment of Hungary and Hungarians THE HUNGARIAN HOLY CROWN WAS MOVED TO THE PARLIAMENT On January 1, 2000, the Hungarian Holy Crown was removed from the National Museum where it had been displayed since 1978 when it was returned from the U.S. and transferred to the Parliament building. This was not the first time that the crown was moved to the Parliament: in 1896, as part of the millennium festivities, the upper and lower houses of the Hungarian assembly had their joint session on June 8 in the (still unfinished) Parliament building, in the presence of the Holy Crown. The difference, however, is that now the intention is to keep the Holy Crown permanently in the Parliament building, displaying it there as the symbol of the nation. A lengthy debate preceded the present move: originally the Hungarian government wanted to include in the official declaration issued by the assembly of the country's elected representatives a statement emphasizing the symbolic nature of the Holy Crown as the embodiment of the Hungarian nation. However, at the end this was watered down by various opposition groups that felt that this is archaic and does not correspond anymore to present-day political systems. It is most interesting to follow this — still current — debate which reflects the unique place of the Hungarian crown in history, law and in the mind of the Hungarians. It is not our purpose to elaborate the history of the Hungarian Holy Crown; still, as a background to our discussion a brief summary is needed. The Origin of the Holy Crown The expression "Holy Crown" is the direct translation of the Latin Sacra Corona, and sacra ("holy") characterizes an object worthy of adoration or veneration. It is not necessarily a religious expression and it is not identical to sanctus, sancta (“Saint”) which is a religious term, always referring to a person. It is interesting that in Hungarian as well as in some other languages (e.g., German) the two attributes are expressed by the same word: “szent” in Hungarian and “heilige” in The Hungarian Holy Crown German, thus somewhat mixing up the two meanings. In the mind of most Hungarians the Holy Crown is directly connected with the person of St. Stephen, the first king of the country: we usually speak about “St. Stephen's Crown.” The common belief for many centuries had been that he received the crown from Pope Sylvester II (999- 1003) and was crowned with it by the end of the year 1000, that means exactly 1000 years ago. It is indeed a historical fact that 1000 years ago Stephen received a crown from the Pope, together with a golden lance (the symbol of independence); however, the present crown is not identical to that. We do not know how the original crown of St. Stephen looked. His portrait on the Coronation Robe (made in 1031, originally as a priest's chasuble) shows him with a band-type diadem and we may assume that his crown was similar to this: at that time only the crowns of the Holy Roman (German) emperor and the emperor of Byzantine were closed. The “original” crown (and the lance) were most likely returned to the Pope during the war of succession between Péter of Orseolo (1038-41, 1044-46), the son of Stephen's sister and the doge of Venice, and Samuel Aba (1041-44), the husband of another sister of Stephen: According to some documentation, when Peter placed Hungary under the suzerainty of Henry III (1039- 56), the German emperor, for his help to regain his throne, the emperor sent the crown and the lance back to Rome expressing by this act that Hungary is not an independent country anymore: in fact there is some indication that “St. Stephen's lance” was displayed for many years in tire old St. Peter basilica. The present Holy Crown is composed of two parts. The lower part is called the Corona Graeca (Greek crown): it has texts in Greek and was made in the Byzantine court in the 11th century. The upper part (the two arches) - the so-called Corona Latina - consist of the pictures of Jesus Christ and eight apostles, with Latin inscription. The Corona Graeca was originally given to the Hungarian King Géza I (1074-77) by Michael VII Dukas, the Byzantine emperor (1071- 78) in recognition of Géza's great services to him, and their portraits (together with the portrait of Michael's son) are on the backside. This jewelry was originally an open crown or a diadem. We do not know the original purpose of the upper part nor the place where it was made: most likely it is also An aerial view of the Hungarian Parliament Page 4
