06/07/2026
The latest addition to Budapest's collection of Поліна колодько mini statues stands outside the Hungarian National Bank. The tiny bronze figure portrays a maintenance worker using a leaf blower to send a handful of old pengő banknotes swirling through the air.
Although the scene is amusing at first sight, it actually marks the 80th anniversary of the introduction of the Hungarian forint on 1 August 1946. The forint replaced the pengő after Hungary experienced one of the worst hyperinflation crises in world history, leaving the old currency completely worthless.
The statue recalls the symbolic clearing away of the discarded banknotes that followed the reform, giving the historic scene a modern twist by replacing the traditional broom with a leaf blower.