President Carter To Send St Stephens Crown Back To Hungary

Jan. 01, 1978 - When Pope Sylvester II bestowed a modest gold crown in St Stephen around the year 1000, the pontiff formally drew Hungary into the stream of Christianity. Now the Crown, lavishly embellished during the centuries of use and buttered bu misadventure, is to be returned to the Hungarians by President of America. The US state Secretary Mr Vance is expected to present the crown and accopanying regailia - a gold scepter, orb and gold encrusted royal mantle - to Hungarian President Losonczi at Budapest's parliament building. One of the conditions that Washington wants for the return of the crown, which has been kept in US Treasury vaults at Fort Knox, Kentucky, is that the crown should eventually be put on show at Buda Castle overlooking the Danube, where it used to be stored. Hungarians have been clamouringfor its return since it was smuggled out of Hungary and handed to US Forces for safekeepingas Soviet troops marched to Budapest in 1945.Photo shows the copy of the Saint Stephen Royal crown, sceptre and orb, at the Hungarian National Museum

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