15,000 forint - Hortobágy National Park

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the first national park in Hungary, the Magyar Nemzeti Bank will issue a silver collector coin of 15,000 forints and its non-ferrous metal version with a face value of 3,000 forints as Earth Day approaches. The special rectangular commemorative coins are part of a series presenting Hungarian national parks, launched in 2010, which follow the Őrség, Danube-Drava, Danube-Ipoly, Bükk and Kiskunság National Parks. The Hortobágy National Park collector coins were designed by applied artist Gábor Kereszthury. Established in 1973, the Hortobágy National Park is the first and most extensive national park in Hungary. Initially the area of the Hortobágy National Park spanned across 52,000 hectares, but as a result of continuous expansion and integration, it has grown to approximately 82,000 hectares. Our first national park has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999. For more than two thousand years, it has provided visible evidence of traditional pastoral land use and exemplified the harmonious relationship between man and nature. The grasslands, as a cultural landscape shaped by shepherd societies, are unique in their pattern and combination of distinctive landscape features, such as the endless horizon broken by distant shadoofs and the silhouettes of wild and backyard animals. The MNB will issue a silver collector coin named Hortobágyi Nemzeti Park with a face value of 15,000 forint and its non-ferrous metal version of 3,000 forint to honour the national park and the 50th anniversary of its establishment. The primary role of collector coins is to educate and present our national values, therefore they are not to be used in everyday payments. Their face value serves to preserve the value the coins represent to collectors. The silver and the non-ferrous metal versions have the same design, the only difference being their denominations. The collector coins were designed by applied artist Gábor Kereszthury.