György Ede Almásy de Zsadány et Törökszentmiklós (11 August 1867 – 23 September 1933) was a Hungarian Asiologist, traveler,

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

and

ethnographer Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

. His son,

László Almásy László Adolf Ede György Mária Almásy de Zsadány et Törökszentmiklós (; ; 22 August/3 November 1895 – 22 March 1951) was a Hungarian Aristocracy (class), aristocrat, motorist, desert exploration, desert explorer, aviator, Scouting, ...

, was an aviator, Afrologist and soldier.

Life

Almásy was born in Felsőlendva (now Grad, Slovenia). His father, Ede Almásy, was a founding member of the Hungarian Geographical Society. György Almásy studied for a law doctorate at the

University of Graz The University of Graz (, formerly: ''Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz'') is a public university, public research university located in Graz, Austria. It is the largest and oldest university in Styria, as well as the second-largest and second-old ...

, as customary for his status in society. After university he worked in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

as a civil servant, but after leaving his profession he returned home to manage his estate. He was interested from the beginning in zoology and, within that,

ornithology Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

. He published a book with István Chernel as co-editor. His first more serious journey was taken to the

Danube delta The Danube Delta (, ; , ) is the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. Occurring where the Danube, Danube River empties into the Black Sea, most of the Danube Delta lies in Romania ...

to study ornithology. On 3 December 1891 he married Ilona Pittani, by whom he had three children: Györgyike, born in Borostyánkõ on 25 September 1892 and married to Antal Gyömörey de Gyömöre et Teölvár, János (

Kőszeg Kőszeg (; ; ; ; ) is a town in Vas County, Hungary. The town is known for its historical character. History Medieval Period The origins of the only free royal town in the historical garrison county of Vas (Eisenburg) go back to the third quart ...

(Güns), 7 March/September 1893 – Borostyánkõ ( Bernstein im Burgenland), 21 August 1968), married at Gyuleviz Castle ( Zsira) on 1 June 1929 to Princess Mária Róza Alojzia Alexa Paulina Esterházy de Galántha (

Eisenstadt Eisenstadt (; ; ; or ; ) is the capital city of the Provinces of Austria, Austrian state of Burgenland. With a population of 15,074 (as of 2023), it is the smallest state capital and the 38th-largest city in Austria overall. It lies at the foot o ...

/ Kis-Marton, 25 January 1900 – Bernstein, Burgenland, 30 November 1971), without issue, and

. He first travelled to Asia in 1900 with Rudolf Stummer of Traunfels, his teacher of zoology at the University of Graz. They journeyed through the region of the river Ili, the eastern areas of the

Issyk Kul Issyk-Kul () or Ysyk-Köl (, ; ) is an endorheic saline lake in the western Tianshan Mountains in eastern Kyrgyzstan, just south of a dividing range separating Kyrgyzstan from Kazakhstan. It is the eighth-deepest lake in the world, the eleve ...

, and the unexplored, third mountain range of the Tien-San. The zoological achievement of their journey was the collection of around 20,000 animals (mostly birds), with many newly discovered species among them. This tour gave him extensive experience, but rather than from his zoological observation, this experience was derived from his vivid ethnographical notations, which are concerned with the everyday life of the Kyrgyz and Kazakh peoples. Gyula Prinz took a part in this journey, but disagreements with Almásy led to them going their own ways and they made independent, but valuable, observations (Prinz's ''My Journeys in Central Asia'' give vivid descriptions of the things they saw). Almásy came home disappointed from his last journey, from this point onwards he lived withdrawn on his land. His journal and letters sent to his wife tell the rest of the story, but these unfortunately have not been published. His knowledge of the

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

and Turks made it possible to better understand and communicate with Russian officials and Kyrgyz tribal chiefs during his travels. He published an important variant of the Kyrgyz epic of " Manas" about a farewell meeting between the hero Manas and his two-month-old child, Semetei. His article included a Latin transcription, and German translation, of the Kyrgyz-language text of the episode. He died in

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

Contributions

György Almásy's field work and descriptive writings about them constitute his highest achievement. Later, he primarily made ethnographical and oriental studies; these found readership in the Ethnographical Bulletin and Bernát Munkácsy's journal. His collected works on the Kyrgyz, which the Néprajzi Múzeum holds, have played a part in ethnographical exhibitions.

Works

* ''Madártani betekintés a román Dobrudzsába'' (Ornithological investigation into the Romanian Dobruja). Budapest, 1898. * ''Utazásom orosz Turkesztánba'' (My Journey to Russian Turkestan). Budapest, 1903. * ''Vándor-utam Ázsia szívébe'' (''My Travels to the Heart of Asia''). Budapest, Természettudományi Könyvkiadó-vállalat, 1903.

Literature on him

*Асанов У.А., Джуманазарова А.З., Чоротегин Т.К. Кыргызская наука в лицах: Краткий исторический и био-библиографический свод / Отв. ред. академик У.А.Асанов. – Бишкек: Центр госязыка и энциклопедии, 2002. – 544 стр., илл. – *Sántha, István, and Dávid Somfai Kara, ''Levelek és fényképek Ázsia szívéből: Almásy György második közép-ázsiai kutatóútja (1906)'' (Lakitelek: Antológia Kiadó, 2021). . *Sántha, István, and László Lajtai, 'Hungarian orientalism as seen through the photographs of György Almásy's second expedition to the Kazakh and Kyrgyz territories', in ''Photographing Central Asia: From the Periphery of the Russian Empire to Global Presence'', ed. Svetlana Gorschenina, Sergei Abashin, Bruno de Cordier, Tatiana Saburova (Berlin/Boston: de Gruyter), pp. 129–164.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Almasy, Gyoergy 1867 births 1933 deaths 19th-century Hungarian zoologists Hungarian ornithologists Hungarian explorers Gyoergy People from Austria-Hungary