Rakoczi Palace In Borsa

Today Borša is in the Trebisov District of eastern Slovakia, just a few kilometres from the Hungarian border. According to archival records, the name of the village was first mentioned in a document dating from 1067. The village was part of the estate of Patak Castle in several periods and was owned by the Perényi, Pálóczi, Henyey and Zeleméry families before it came into the possession of the Rákóczi family through the marriage of Zsuzsanna Lórántffy and Prince György I Rákóczi in 1616.

The palace is renowned for being the birthplace of Prince Ferenc II Rákóczi of Transylvania, who was born on 27 March 1676 as a Hungarian aristocrat and later became the leader of a struggle for liberation from Habsburg rule. The Renaissance palace was built in the period between 1563 and 1638, and its original stone frames are still in place today. The two-storey building underwent a major reconstruction in the 1940s but by the end of the century was in a worryingly dilapidated state. Saving and restoring the palace began in 1998 through the cooperation of Slovakian and Hungarian historic building preservation agencies. By 2005, the palace’s northern wing and the northern section of the western wing had been gradually refurbished but then the incomplete works ceased. These restarted on 26 September 2018. The inauguration ceremony of the renovated palace took place on 19 June 2021.

The special stamp shows the renovated Rákóczi Palace in Borša together with a bust of Prince Ferenc II Rákóczi by the sculptor Ede Mayer (1857-1908). A detail of the building appears on the first day cover and the main motif of the postmark is a stylised drawing of the palace.