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 let ...

Hungarian noble 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 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. Pál Rosty was also, descendant of the ancient and prestigious medieval Hungarian noble Perneszy family, which died out in the 18th century. Pál Rosty de Barkócz's nephew was the Baron

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 cau ...

, 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 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 t ...

against the Habsburgs. 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 German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

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, ...

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

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

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, Ke ...

, 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 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 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. It is located in the north-central region of Venezuela. It has plains and jungles and Caribbean beaches. The most popular are Cata and Choroni. It has Venezuela's first n ...

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. 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 ...

. 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