"The annual gathering of stamp collectors and its associated philately exhibition is being held in the headquarters of the National Federation of Hungarian Philatelists between 16-18 May 2008. Unusually the celebratory stamps will be issued before Stamp Day at the opening of the exhibition “Star in the Shadow of the Raven – John the Valiant and the beginning of humanism in Hungary” at the National Széchényi Library.Matthias Hunyadi, king of Hungary (1443-90), is known as Matthias Corvin, King Matthias the just, or, officially Matthias I, but in everyday speech he is simply called King Matthias. His reign in Hungary was between 1458 and 1490. Tradi-tionally he is considered one of Hungary’s greatest kings, whose memory is preserved in many folk stories and legends. During his reign the court at Buda and Visegrád became one of the centres of the Renaissance in Europe. The new stamps recall the style of the miniatures of the Corvins and feature the logo of the Year of the Renaissance. In the numbered block King Matthias and Queen Beatrix seated on their thrones receive a papal envoy with Buda Castle in the background. On the HUF 70 stamp of the set there is a portrait of King Matthias and a detail of the palace in Visegrád. The HUF 100 stamp features the conquering King Matthias and, as a composition of related elements, a cas-tle, a ballista and a knight of the black army in the background."