Herman Ottó Memorial House (Pele-lak)

A fairy-tale house awaits visitors in Lillafüred on Erzsébet promenade. This was once the holiday home of Herman Ottó, the last Hungarian polymath. Now operated by the Herman Ottó Museum, it welcomes visitors from spring to late autumn!

Herman Ottó was Hungary’s last great polymath. Although born in Breznóbánya, he always considered Alsóhámor his home and even claimed it as his birthplace. “He identifies so strongly as Hungarian that he breaks with family traditions, even choosing his birthplace to fully assimilate into Hungarian culture.” (Kálmán Lambrecht)
While he didn’t spend his entire life here, he frequently returned to Miskolc, Lillafüred, and even visited Avas. In the last two decades of his life, he spent a lot of time at the foot of the Bükk Mountains, spending most of his summers in Lillafüred from 1903 onwards. His love for nature was evident from childhood, as he explored the hills and valleys of the Bükk, observing the forest’s inhabitants and birds. These childhood discoveries laid the foundation for his scientific work. He established the Hungarian foundations for several scientific fields, and his writings remain seminal works in ornithology, zoology (spiders, fish, insects), ethnography, and archaeology. Beyond this, he was passionate about animal welfare, wrote travelogues, and even dabbled in politics, serving as Miskolc’s parliamentary representative from 1893 to 1896.
In the Hanging Gardens of Lillafüred, you can find a charming statue of him holding birds. In Miskolc, a museum, schools, and a street bear his name.

The exhibition, renovated in 2022, is titled A Visit to Herman Ottó. It tells the story of the daily life of the scientist and his wife, Kamilla Borosnyay, in the Pele House, which they used as a holiday home, within a fictional narrative framework. Visitors are welcomed by a display that recreates the polymath’s former holiday home with stunning settings and original artefacts. Those who visit the memorial house can truly feel like guests of Herman Ottó.