The Holy Crown of Hungary (the Hungarian royal crown) – replica

The Hungarian royal crown is the most important piece of the Hungarian royal insignia.
Known as “The Hungarian Holy Crown” or “Crown of Saint Stephen”. According to the longer version of Saint Stephen’s legend, created around 1100, the king, founder of the country, received a crown for his coronation from Pope Silvester II. Tradition says this is the crown in question. The crown is composed of two parts: the diadem with 9 pendants and frontispieces (the so-called “Corona Graeca”) covered by an upper band (the so-called “Corona Latina”), with a crooked cross on top. The diadem has the shape of a Byzantine empress’ crown, with semicircle- and triangular-shaped enamel frontispieces. The primary decorations of the diadem are a series of Byzantine cloisonné enamel pictures, alternating with gemstones. The “Corona Graeca” was a diplomatic gift of the court of Constantinople to Géza I, probably sent to Hungary with his Byzantine artistocrat fiancée.
The whole “Corona Latina” (pictures and cross-band) was likely made on the request of a Hungarian king, Coloman (rulership: 1095-1116) or maybe Béla III (rulership: 1172-1196).