Pál Rosty de Barkócz (pronunciation: pa:l 'rɔʃti 'bɒrkɔ:ʦ 29 November 1830 – 7 December 1874) was a Hungarian nobleman, photographer, and

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

Life

Born in Pest in the former

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

. Pál István Ferenc, was a member of the illustrious ancient

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

Hungarian noble The Hungarian nobility consisted of a privileged group of individuals, most of whom owned landed property, in the Kingdom of Hungary. Initially, a diverse body of people were described as noblemen, but from the late 12th century only high- ...

family (in Hungarian: ''barkóczi Rosty'' család). His father was Albert Rosty de Barkócz (1779–1847), jurist, landowner, vice-ispán of the county of Békés (''alispán of Békés''), and his mother was Anna Eckstein de Ehrenbergh (1801–1843). His paternal grandparents were Pál Rosty de Barkócz (1745–1810), first lieutenant, landowner, membe rof the Hungarian

Jacobin , logo = JacobinVignette03.jpg , logo_size = 180px , logo_caption = Seal of the Jacobin Club (1792–1794) , motto = "Live free or die"(french: Vivre libre ou mourir) , successor = Pa ...

front, and Anna Nedeczky de Nedecze (1764–1839). His great grandfather was Ferenc Rosty de Barkócz (1718–1790), royal counselor, vice-ispán of the Vas county, and a wealthy landowner during the Age of empress

Maria Theresa Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (german: Maria Theresia; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position ''suo jure'' (in her own right). ...

. Pál Rosty was also, descendant of the ancient and prestigious medieval Hungarian noble

Perneszy family The Perneszy de Osztopán family was an important and prestigious Hungarian noble family which gave many relevant personalities. Its members were high members of the nobility of the Kingdom of Hungary since the 13th century. History History of ...

, which died out in the 18th century. Pál Rosty de Barkócz's nephew was the

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

Loránd Eötvös Baron Loránd Eötvös de Vásárosnamény (or Loránd Eötvös, , '' hu, vásárosnaményi báró Eötvös Loránd Ágoston''; 27 July 1848 – 8 April 1919), also called Baron Roland von Eötvös in English literature, was a Hungarian physicist ...

de Vásárosnamény (1848–1919),

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

, engineer and politician, as his mother was Ágnes Rosty de Barkócz (1825–1913), Pál's sister. The young Pál Rosty served as soldier in the Károlyi

hussar A hussar ( , ; hu, huszár, pl, husarz, sh, husar / ) was a member of a class of light cavalry, originating in Central Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries. The title and distinctive dress of these horsemen were subsequently widely ...

during the

Hungarian Revolution of 1848 The Hungarian Revolution of 1848 or fully Hungarian Civic Revolution and War of Independence of 1848–1849 () was one of many European Revolutions of 1848 and was closely linked to other revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas. Although th ...

against the

Habsburgs The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

. After the capitulation, Pál escaped from the Hungarian Kingdom and went to

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

with the help of his brother in law Agoston Trefort. There he studied biology and chemistry and soon he emigrated to Paris, where he got to known with the art of photography, which he learned and started practicing with great passion. Pál planned then an excursion to the Americas inspired by the experiences and discovering of his friend the old Baron

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 17696 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister, p ...

. Pál left on 4 August 1856 by ship to the United Estates. He was in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

, Mexico and then he traveled to the island of

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

, staying in the

Habana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

for several days. Then in 1857 he continued his trip to

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, staying in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

for a very brief time, and then he left to the countryside to the

Aragua Aragua State ( es, Estado Aragua, ) is one of the 23 States of Venezuela, states of Venezuela. It is located in the north-central region of Venezuela. It has plains and jungle (terrain), jungles and Caribbean beaches. The most popular are Cata a ...

state, after receiving the invitation of a local landowner of German origins, Franz Vollmer, who had a state named "''El Palmar''". After two years of travelling he arrived back to Hungary on 26 February 1859. All his experiences, several drawings and plenty pictures were published in this anecdotal memories named "From America" (Pest, 1861). Once he traveled back to Europe, he visited to Berlin in 1859, where he gave personally a copy of his still unpublished memories to his friend Humboldt, who died months later. Since 1861, Pál Rosty de Barkócz was named member of the

Hungarian Academy of Sciences The Hungarian Academy of Sciences ( hu, Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, MTA) is the most important and prestigious learned society of Hungary. Its seat is at the bank of the Danube in Budapest, between Széchenyi rakpart and Akadémia utca. Its ma ...

. Since 1860, he lived in Pest and in his mansion of Dunapentele. In 1870 he became founder member of the Gentlemen's Casino of Dunapentele. From 1872 he was member of the juridic council of the

Fejér county Fejér ( hu, Fejér megye, ) is an administrative county (comitatus or megye) in Central Hungary. It lies on the west bank of the river Danube and nearly touches the eastern shore of Lake Balaton. It shares borders with the Hungarian counties V ...

. In the decade of the 1870s his health got very weak, and moved definitely to his mansion of Dunapentele. There he died on 7 September 1874.Magyar utazók lexikona. Szerk. Balázs Dénes. Budapest: Panoráma. 1993. He never got married and was the last man descendant of his branch of the Rosty de Barkócz family.

Bibliography

*Szinnyei József: Magyar írók élete és munkái XI. (Popeszku–Rybay). Budapest: Hornyánszky. 1906. *Kenyeres Ágnes (főszerk.): Magyar életrajzi lexikon. Budapest, 1982.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosty de Barkoc, Pal 1830 births 1874 deaths Hungarian Roman Catholics Hungarian nobility