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# The current series (1997–2019)

**Contents:**

- [The 1997 originals](#the-1997-originals)
- [The 2014–2019 refresh](#the-2014-2019-refresh)
- [Production](#production)

The notes in a Hungarian wallet today come from one continuous series: the originals introduced by the [Magyar Nemzeti Bank](page:4173) between 1997 and 2001, and the refreshed prints rolled out between 2014 and 2019 with upgraded security. Both generations carry the same portraits and reverse scenes, and both remain legal tender; to the casual eye they are almost indistinguishable.

The series replaced the older, pre-democratic forint notes that had circulated since the 1957 redesign. The new issue was a generational statement of the post-Soviet republic: contemporary security technology, a refreshed graphic language by the Hungarian designer György Pálinkás, and a cast of figures chosen to span a millennium of Hungarian political history from King Stephen I to the lawyer Ferenc Deák. The first denomination off the press was the 200 forint in November 1997; the 20,000 forint, the highest of the series, appeared four years later.

## The 1997 originals

The 1997 series was designed by the Hungarian graphic artist **György Pálinkás** and rolled out gradually across five years:

- **November 1997**: 200 forint (later replaced by a 200-forint coin in 2009)
- **1998**: 500, 1000 and 2000 forint
- **1999**: 5000 and 10,000 forint
- **2001**: 20,000 forint

The portraits, chosen by the Magyar Nemzeti Bank's banknote committee, span a thousand years: King Stephen I (10,000), Matthias Corvinus (1,000), the Transylvanian princes Ferenc II Rákóczi (500) and Gábor Bethlen (2,000), the reformer István Széchenyi (5,000) and the lawyer Ferenc Deák (20,000). Each reverse pairs the figure with a place or scene tied to their life: a castle, a fountain, a mansion, a city view, a parliament chamber.

## The 2014–2019 refresh

The Magyar Nemzeti Bank began a comprehensive security refresh in 2014. The portraits and scenes stayed the same; the engraving was redrawn for sharper relief, the colour palettes were enriched (notably a shift from orange to red on the 500-forint), the watermarks enlarged, and the security strips, microprinting, and holographic features modernised to the European standard of the 2010s.

The refreshed notes entered circulation one denomination at a time:

- **2 September 2014**: 10,000 forint
- **25 September 2015**: 20,000 forint
- **1 March 2017**: 2,000 and 5,000 forint
- **1 March 2018**: 1,000 forint
- **1 February 2019**: 500 forint

The earlier 1997 prints remain legal tender alongside the refreshed ones. Side by side, the two generations are hard to tell apart unless held against light: the new prints carry larger and sharper watermarks, additional foil elements, and the red 500-forint where the old was orange.

## Production

All Hungarian forint banknotes are printed by **Pénzjegynyomda Zrt.** (literally "banknote printing house"), the state-owned printer founded in 1923, based at Óbudai út 28 in Budapest. The same house has supplied Hungary's notes through every regime since the inter-war pengő.

The paper substrate, a long-fibre cotton blend with a thread of red and blue protective fibres, comes from the **Diósgyőr Paper Mill** at Miskolc in northern Hungary, the oldest paper mill in continuous operation in central Europe (founded in 1782 as a Habsburg-era court contractor). The combination of Diósgyőr substrate and Pénzjegynyomda printing is one of the few fully domestic banknote-production lines left in Europe.