Magyar Posta is issuing a pair of special stamps of different denominations to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the Dutch admiral Michiel de Ruyter freeing Protestant Hungarian ministers from galley slavery. The new issue designed by the graphic artist Katalin Bódi was produced by ANY Security Printing Company and will be available from Filaposta, philately specialist services, certain post offices and www.posta.hu from 30 October 2026.
In 1674, during the Counter-Reformation in Hungary, more than seven hundred Protestant pastors and preachers were summoned to appear before a special court in Pozsony (today Bratislava, Slovakia). Of the clergymen who were convicted on fabricated charges, such as lèse-majesté, treason and offending the Catholic Church, the 94 most steadfast, who refused to abjure their faith, were sent to the dungeons. Many of these preachers were marched on foot to Naples, where they were sold as galley slaves for 50 gold pieces each. The tragedy of the Hungarian pastors caused widespread outrage in the Protestant countries of Europe. In Switzerland, an extensive fundraising campaign was organised for their release. On the orders of the States General of the Netherlands, Admiral Michiel de Ruyter, commander of the fleet stationed in the region, managed to rescue 26 of the Hungarian Protestant preachers, who had been tortured but survived their captivity, on 11 February 1676.
One of the stamps in the pair depicts the Memorial Column to the Galley Slaves, located in the Memorial Garden behind the Reformed Great Church in Debrecen. The memorial was erected in 1895 thanks to a generous donation from a widow in Debrecen. The 5-metre-high, stone-carved obelisk bears not only the names of the pastors sentenced to slavery but also that of Admiral de Ruyter, serving as a constant reminder of Dutch-Hungarian solidarity and the struggle for religious freedom. The memorial was made by the company Antal Gerenday and Son under the direction of the sculptor Béla Gerenday. Source: www.reformatus.hu
The central scene of Miklós Tamássy’s painting depicting Admiral Ruyter welcoming the freed Hungarian preachers appears on the other stamp of the pair.
The commemorative cover shows the whole painting, which is in the ceremonial hall of the Reformed College of Debrecen. The postmark on the first day cover is a stylised graphic design of the galley depicted on the Memorial Column.
