Here
mention must be made of the crown which for centuries has occupied a vital
place in Hungarian history. The Holy Crown, which is today in the National
Museum, Budapest, was, to the best of our knowledge, never worn by Saint
Stephen. Over the course of time the original crown had fallen into the
hands of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry III, who reputedly sent it to Rome,
after which time its whereabouts became unknown.
That
is why either Andrew II and Géza I - both of whom had been at war
with the Holy Roman Emperor in the 11th century - had turned to Byzantium
for a crown. The lower, circular part of the crown originates from the
court of the Byzantine Emperor, Michael Dukas. When the upper part of the
crown was attached cannot be asserted with any authority, and is currently
the subject of much debate. All that can be claimed with any certainty
is that the form of the crown, as we know it today, has occurred in representations
from the 15th century onwards. Perhaps more vital to the crown's history
is its symbolic value over the centuries as a holy and venerable object,
representing Hungarian statehood, independence, and constitutionality.
The crown had originally been intended to represent the fact that the constitutionality
of the land was determined by the unity of the king and estates, a function
which was also expressed during the coronation ceremony. Later, after the
elimination of feudalism, it became an expression of territorial unity.
The symbolism of the crown is employed in the monument, where it appears
in the right hand of Gabriel. After a rather checkered history, the priceless
crown is back in Budapest and has become a museum piece of inestimable
value.