2011The Treasures of the Hungarian Museums - Set

"In 2011 the treasures of the Hungarian National Museum’s Rákóczi Museum in Sárospatak and the Hungarian Museum of Engineering and Transport’s Várpalota Museum of Chemistry are being placed on stamps. The Rákóczi Museum operates as an affiliate of the Hungarian National Museum in Sárospatak. The castle of the Rákóczi family is today the most significant Rákóczi-linked location in Hungary, more than one hundred thousand people visit it every year. The permanent exhibition of the “golden age of the Rákóczi family” is the most detailed and the richest collection in the subject with regards to artefacts. Among the permanent exhibitions it is important to mention the exhibition on grape growing and wine making. (Source: spatak.hu) The following objects and motifs of the Rákóczi Museum in Sárospatak appear on the HUF 280 stamp, from left to right: a stove tile made by the Haban potters settled in town quarter known as Héce by György Rákóczi I (17th c.), the building of the Rákóczi castle: the inner castle courtyard with the red Tower (16th c.) and the Lorántffy lodge, Head of the angel from the north gate of the Old Palace (16th c.), a product from the glassworks established by Ferenc Rákóczi II, a thread-decorated glass jug (19th c.), a shark-decorated glass with the coat of arms of the Mikes family (1682) and also from the glassworks established by Ferenc Rákóczi II a glassworks glass (18th c.). The Hungarian Chemistry Museum was established in 1963 by the Ministry of Heavy Industry with the purpose of collecting the Hungarian memories of the chemical industry and the science of chemistry, to keep them safe and make them accessible for the generations to come. It has been in operation in the Thury castle since 1969. Since being established it has retained its curiosity and operates as Central Europe’s only independent museum of chemistry. (Source: vegyeszetimuzeum.hu) The order of the motifs forming the stamp image of the Várpalota Museum of Chemistry on the HUF 385 stamp are, from left to right: the certificate of Lajos Ilosvay (1851-1936) a prominent figure in Hungarian education in chemistry and medicine, the museum building, Thury castle, János Bánffy-Hunyady (1578-1646) Hungarian alchemist living in London, pharmacy vessels from the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries and a mercury air pump from the bequest of Károly Than. Further motifs in connection with the theme decorate the first day cover and cancellation stamp."