500 Forint 1975, Hungary
| in Krause book | Number: 172b |
| Years of issue: | 28.10.1975 |
| Edition: | -- |
| Signatures: | Vice-Governor of the Hungarian National Bank (from July 1968 untill August 1980): Pulai Miklós, Governor of the Hungarian National Bank (from July 10, 1975 to June 15, 1988): Mátyás Tímár, Deputy Chairman of the National Bank (1968-1980): Fekete János |
| Serie: | First Series |
| Specimen of: | 30.06.1969 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 166 x 72 |
| Printer: | Hungarian Banknote Printing Corp. "Diósgyőri Papírgyár Zrt.", Miskolc |
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Description
Watermark:
Avers:
The engraving is made after this photo of Ady Endre (photographer is unknown).
Endre Ady (Ady Endre, November 22, 1877 - January 27, 1919) was a Hungarian poet.
Ady was born in Érmindszent, Szilágy County (part of Austria-Hungary at the time; now a village in Szatmár Satu Mare County, Romania, called Adyfalva in Hungarian and Ady Endre in Romanian). He belonged to an impoverished Calvinist noble family. Endre was the second of three children. The eldest, a girl named Ilona, died at an early age.
Between 1892-1896, Ady attended the Calvinist College in Zalău. On 22 March 1896, he published his first poem in the Zalău newspaper Szilágy.
He later studied law at the Reformed College in Debrecen. After finishing his studies, he became a journalist. He published his first poems in a volume called Versek (Poems) in 1899. He soon grew tired of Debrecen (the town later became a symbol of backwardness in his poetry) and moved to Nagyvárad (today Oradea, Romania), a city with a rich cultural life. In articles written in 1902 for the local newspaper Nagyváradi Napló, Ady paid close attention to the social features of his time. "Wesselényi and a poor peasant! Perhaps unwittingly, master Fadrusz has carved a satire", he wrote, referring to the opening of the Wesselényi Monument.
Working as a journalist and spending time with like-minded people broadened his horizons. He published a new collection of poems in 1903, but remained relatively unknown. The turning point came in August 1903 when he met Adél Brüll (Mrs Diósi), a rich married woman who was living in Paris but was visiting her home in Nagyvárad. Léda (as he called her in his poems) became his muse; his love for her and his visit to Paris, where he followed her, helped him to develop his talent. He visited Paris seven times between 1904 and 1911. When he returned after his first visit (which lasted for a year), he moved to Budapest and began work for the newspaper Budapesti Napló (Budapest Journal), where he published more than 500 articles and many poems.
Being interested in politics, Ady became a member of the radical group Huszadik Század (Twentieth Century). In 1906 he published his third book of poetry, Új versek (New Poems), which is a landmark in literature and marks the birth of modern Hungarian poetry. His fourth collection, Vér és arany (Blood and Gold), brought him real success and critical acclaim.
In 1906 Ady decided to leave the country and went to Paris again. In 1907, he had to leave his job at Budapesti Napló.
In 1908, the first issue of a new periodical called Nyugat (The West) published a poem and an essay by Ady. He worked for this periodical for the rest of his life; from 1912 he was one of the editors. Also in 1908 in Nagyvárad, he was one of the founders of a literary circle called A Holnap (Tomorrow). The circle published an anthology of poems of Ady and others including Mihály Babits, Gyula Juhász and Béla Balázs. The poems of this anthology met with disapproval and incomprehension. Many people attacked the anthology for containing erotic poems. In addition, Ady was criticized for his unpatriotic feelings in a poem in which he emphasized the contrast between the rich cultural life he longed for and the cruel realities of the Hungarian peasant world.
Ady disliked his name being linked with other poets, who he thought were jumping on his bandwagon. He wrote a short story, "The duk-duk affair", in which he mocked those who were following the trend he was setting.
He was an editor and leading figure of Nyugat (West), an important journal of Hungarian literature the paper. He also wrote political articles for other journals criticizing the political situation of the time. He did not like the nationalism of the leading parties, but also criticized the anti-nationalism of the social democrats; he knew how far Hungary was behind the more developed countries, but clearly saw the faults of Western countries too.
From 1909 he often needed treatment in sanatoria for his health, which was undermined by syphilis. The political situation became critical: the workers were protesting against the government, and Ady saw a revolution approaching. His personal life was also in crisis; his affair with Léda became more and more of a burden for him. As Ady become a prominent poet, Léda lost her leading role in the relationship. He broke up with her in April 1912.
In 1914 he met the 20-year-old Berta Boncza, with whom he had been corresponding since 1911. In 1915 they married without her father's permission. In his poems he called her Csinszka.
After the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914, Ady saw that war was approaching. Everyone he knew was enthusiastic about the war, and he was left alone with his fears and worries about the future. He published his last book of poetry in 1918. He was terminally ill when he wrote his last poem, "Üdvözlet a győzőnek" (Greetings to the victorious). Syphilis had weakened his aorta, so that he might die at any moment from a massive haemorrhage. He was elected as president of the Vörösmarty Academy, an organization of modern writers, but could not deliver his opening speech; he died in Budapest on 27 January 1919.
His works:
Versek ("Poems", 1899)
Még egyszer ("Once Again", 1903)
Új versek ("New Poems", 1906)
Vér és arany ("Blood and Gold", 1907)
Az Illés szekerén ("On Elijah's Chariot", 1909)
Szeretném, ha szeretnének ("I'd Love to Be Loved" 1910)
A Minden-Titkok versei ("The Poems of All Secrets", 1911)
A menekülő Élet ("The Fleeing Life", 1912)
Margita élni akar ("Margita Wants to Live", 1912)
A magunk szerelme ("Our Own Love", 1913)
Ki látott engem? ("Who Have Seen Me?", 1914)
A halottak élén ("Leading the Dead", 1918)
Az utolsó hajók ("The Last Ships", 1923) 
Coat of arms of the Hungarian people's republic.
The new Socialist coat of arms was created in late 1957 by combining the general shape of the "Rákosi badge" with a small shield in the middle that had its entire area covered by the Hungarian national tricolor. This so-called "Kádár badge" conveniently omitted the cross from the non-religious Hungarian insignia, but it was scrapped during the change of regime in 1989.
Denominations in numerals are on top and bottom pattern band. In words centered.
Revers:
The view at Danube and center of Budapest.
The photo made from observation deck, near Liberty statue, on Gellert Hill, in Buda at 25 December 2014. From Buda side (on left) - the view at Friedrich Born boulevard, and from Pest side (on right) - the view at Jane Haining boulevard.
On this photo I have, in my opinion, not very good look, but I have a principle - the picture is not editable. What came out - comes on my website.
On the foreground is Elisabeth Bridge.
Elisabeth Bridge (Hungarian: Erzsébet híd) is the third newest bridge of Budapest, Hungary, connecting Buda and Pest across the River Danube. The bridge is situated at the narrowest part of the Danube in the Budapest area, spanning only 290 m. It is named after Elisabeth of Bavaria, a popular queen and empress of Austria-Hungary, who was assassinated in 1898. Today, her large bronze statue sits by the bridge's Buda side connection in the middle of a small garden.
Its two ends are:
March 15 Square (with the oldest church in Pest, Inner City Parish Church, built in the XIII century) and the famous Mátyás Pince restaurant
Döbrentei Square in Buda with the monument of Saint Gellért on the Gellért Hill, a sculpture of Queen Elisabeth and the Rácz Baths and Rudas Baths nearby. A luxury spa hotel is currently being built in the area.
The original permanent crossing, a decorative suspension bridge, was built between 1897 and 1903, amid a corruption scandal. The Buda end of Erzsébet bridge runs directly into the massive foot of Gellért Hill, necessitating a complicated arrangement of roads to connect to the bridge. The bridge was designed in such a way because a wealthy nobleman, a member of the City Council owned the particular area of the riverbank. He wanted to make a fortune by selling the piece of land for bridge construction purposes, bribing the other councilmen and engineers on purpose. He managed to sell the land at greatly inflated prices. In the era of horse-drawn carriages the geometry issue was not considered significant and the resulting cost overruns were covered up, therefore no prosecution took place. In recent decades, many motorists have been permanently injured or killed in the sharp turn that immediately follows the bridgehead. After an accident in 2004, which killed a family, a speed limit of 40 km/h was posted for the west-bound lanes.
The original Erzsébet Bridge, along with many other bridges all over the country, was blown up at the end of World War II by retreating Wehrmacht sappers. This is the only bridge in Budapest which could not be rebuilt in its original form. Pictures and some salvaged elements from the old bridge can be seen on the grass in front of the Museum of Transport in City Park.
The currently standing slender white cable bridge was built on the very same location between 1961-1964, because the government could not afford to construct entirely new foundations for the bridge. The main spar cables of the bridge are hexagonal in cross section, composed of thousands of elementary steel wires of seven different diameters, partly because early computers were unable to provide solution for a circular cross section main cable batch.
The novel design, designed by Pál Sávoly, was a first in Central Europe and not without weaknesses. Tram traffic and its heavy tracks had to be removed from the bridge in 1973 after signs of cracks appeared in the structure.
The special lighting for Elisabeth Bridge has been created by renowned Japanese lighting designer Motoko Ishii and Japan contributed 120 million forints (EUR 450,000) to the costs. The Budapest City Council has paid 150 million forints for the project. 2009 marks the 140th anniversary of establishing diplomatic links between the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and Japan, and the 50th anniversary of re-establishing diplomatic links between Japan and Hungary.
On second plan is The Széchenyi Chain Bridge.
The Széchenyi Chain Bridge (Hungarian: Széchenyi lánchíd) is a suspension bridge that spans the River Danube between Buda and Pest, the western and eastern sides of Budapest, the capital of Hungary. Designed by the English engineer William Tierney Clark, it was the first permanent bridge across the Danube in Hungary, and was opened in 1849.
It is anchored on the Pest side of the river to Széchenyi (formerly Roosevelt) Square, adjacent to the Gresham Palace and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and on the Buda side to Adam Clark Square, near the Zero Kilometre Stone and the lower end of the Castle Hill Funicular, leading to Buda Castle.
The bridge has the name of István Széchenyi, a major supporter of its construction, attached to it, but is most commonly known as the Chain Bridge. At the time of its construction, it was regarded as one of the modern world's engineering wonders. It has asserted an enormous significance in the country's economic, social and cultural life, much as the Brooklyn Bridge has in New York and United States of America. Its decorations made of cast iron, and its construction, radiating calm dignity and balance, have elevated the Chain Bridge to a high stature in Europe.[citation needed] It became a symbol of advancement, national awakening, and the linkage between East and West.
The bridge was designed by the English engineer William Tierney Clark in 1839, following an initiative by the influential Count István Széchenyi, with construction supervised locally by Scottish engineer Adam Clark (no relation). It is a larger scale version of William Tierney Clark's earlier Marlow Bridge, across the River Thames in Marlow, England.
It was funded to a considerable extent by the Vlach Greek merchant Georgios Sinas who had considerable financial and land interests in the city and whose name is inscribed on the base of the south western foundation of the bridge on the Buda side.
The bridge was opened in 1849, after the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, and thus became the first permanent bridge in the Hungarian capital. At the time, its center span of 202 metres (663 ft) was one of the largest in the world. The lions at each of the abutments were carved in stone by the sculptor, János Marschalkó. They are visibly similar in design to the famous bronze lions of Trafalgar Square by Edwin Henry Landseer with Marochetti (commissioned 1858, installed 1867), but they were earlier - installed 1852. They are also smaller (and appear from below to lack tongues). The bridge was given its current name in 1898.
It was designed in sections and shipped from the United Kingdom to Hungary for final construction.
The bridge's cast iron structure was updated and strengthened in 1914. In World War II, the bridge was blown up on 18 January 1945 by the retreating Germans during the Siege of Budapest, with only the towers remaining. It was rebuilt, and it reopened in 1949.
The third one, on background, is Margaret Bridge.
Margit híd or Margaret Bridge (sometimes Margit Bridge) is a three-way bridge in Budapest, Hungary, connecting Buda and Pest across the Danube. It is the second northernmost and second oldest public bridge in Budapest.
It was designed by French engineer Ernest Goüin and built by the construction company, Maison Ernest Goüin et Cie. between 1872-1876, the engineer in charge being Émile Nouguier. Margaret Bridge is the second permanent bridge in Budapest after Széchenyi Chain Bridge. This bridge leads up to Margaret Island, its two parts enclosing 165 degrees with each other at the embranchment towards the island. The reason for this unusual geometry is the fact the small extension to connect to Margaret Island was hastily inserted into the original design but not built until two decades later due to lack of funds.
All the bridges of Budapest were blown up by World War II Wehrmacht sapper troops in January 1945 during their retreat to the Buda side of the surrounded capital. However, Margaret Bridge had been damaged by this time, on 4 November 1944, when an accidental explosion destroyed the eastern span of the bridge. 600 civilians and 40 German soldiers died. During reconstruction, much of the original steel material was lifted from the river and incorporated into the rebuilt structure.
Margaret Bridge was Budapest's most heavily worn bridge over the Danube when its total overhaul began 21 August 2009. It was closed to road traffic for at least a year, but trams maintained partial service over the bridge using temporary track.
The works are finished now; pedestrians, motor traffic, and trams use the bridge again.
Soon after the bridge was inaugurated, it became a preferred spot for people seeking to take their own lives over personal or financial troubles. The wave of suicides inspired János Arany, a renowned Hungarian poet to compose a ballad, "Híd-avatás" (Bridge Inauguration), about the jumpers. It was widely distributed in leaflet format, illustrated with Mihály Zichy's romantic styled intricate pencil drawings.
The bridge's two ends are:
Jászai Mari tér (northern end of Grand Boulevard) and
Germanus Gyula park (stop of Szentendre HÉV; Lukács Baths and Király Baths are nearby).
It is 637.5 meters in length and 25 meters in width.
Denominations in numerals are repeated three times, in words two times.
Comments:
Withdrawn from circulation: 31 August 1999.
Obverse engraver and designer of obverse and reverse: Nagy Zoltan.
Reverse engraver: Gal Ferenc.
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