Stories & anecdotes

Eduard Almásy was a founding member of the Hungarian National Geographic society. The declared goal of this organisation was to finally explore the last blank spots on maps of the earth.
At the end of the 19th century there were still some areas which have not been explored yet. Due to Eduard´s influence Bernstein Castle became a hotspot for scientists and explorers from all over the world. They met within the castle´s walls to discuss the results of their journeys or plan new expeditions. Eduard himself spent two years of his live travelling all around the world. A vitrine in the upper floor displays one of his diaries which he wrote while visiting Mongolia.
It was also one of the unresolved questions where the Magyars (the "Hungarians"), which due to a legend consist of seven different tribes, originally came from.
This atmosphere of a mixture of adventures and scientific dispute must have had a big influence on Eduard´s son Georg. Georg set out to be an ornithologist but later switched to ethnology and anthropology.
The downside of his thirst for adventures was that he was not at all interested in the economic side of his inheritance and spent his time exclusively on expeditions. So Eduard had to acknowledge that Georg was not fit to take over the family´s estates, instead they were passed on to Georg´s son János Almásy.