Description
Saint Irene (the daughter of Saint Ladislaus, and married to Byzantine Emperor, John II Komnenos) is venerated as a saint in both the Western and Eastern churches. As the wife of the Byzantine Emperor, Piroska was given the new name Irene meaning ‘peace’. She was not directly involved in politics, although she supported the Hungarian opponents of Coloman who sought refuge in the Byzantine Empire. She regularly received Hungarian delegations and pilgrims to the Holy Land, and mediated between the Kingdom of Hungary and the Byzantine Empire on several occasions. She was active in social issues, supporting the poor and sick, and helping to organise medical services for them. In 1118, she founded the monastery of Christ Pantocrator in Constantinople (now Istanbul), the world’s largest monastery at that time. From the beginning, the monastery also included a 50-bed hospital, which served as the example for later Arabic and European hospitals.
Front: The central motif on the obverse features the monastery of Christ Pantocrator in Constantinople, which was founded by Saint Irene. Its construction was completed by her husband. The monastery also housed the crypt of the imperial family, and it became the most important religious and social institution in Constantinople. Moved a bit to the left, the obverse of the coin bears the upper circular legend, PANTOKRÁTOR KOLOSTOR (Monastery of the Christ Pantocrator), the lower circular legend features the denominations 50,000 and the lettering Ft, and also the mint mark BP. , to the left, and the mint year 2019 to the right.
Back:The obverse shows a half-portrait of Saint Irene holding the founding documents of the monastery in her hand. This side of the coin was inspired by the mosaic found in Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia, considered to be the only authentic depiction of Saint Irene. To the left of Saint Irene is her Hungarian name (Szent Piroska) and the dates of her birth and death (1088-1134), with her name as the Byzantine Empress in Greek letters (Eiréné) to the right. The master mark of the coins designer, Fanni Király, is found to the bottom left of the Saint. The upper circular legend shows the inscription MAGYARORSZÁG (Hungary)
Keywords:Religion, church history, churchSaints, gold, gold coin series
