Herman Ottó Memorial House (Pele-lak)

A fairy-tale house awaits visitors in Lillafüred on Erzsébet Promenade, which was once the summer retreat of Ottó Herman, Hungary's last polymath. It is currently operated by the Ottó Herman Museum and can be visited from spring to late autumn!

Ottó Herman was Hungary's last polymath. Although he was born in Breznóbánya, he always considered Alsóhámor his home and even claimed it as his birthplace. "He considers himself so thoroughly Hungarian that he breaks with family traditions, even choosing his birthplace to fully assimilate into Hungarian identity." (Kálmán Lambrecht)
While he did not 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 great deal 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 Mountains, observing the forest's inhabitants and birds. These childhood discoveries laid the foundation for his scientific work. He established the professional groundwork for several scientific fields in Hungary, and his writings remain fundamental 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 a Member of Parliament for Miskolc from 1893 to 1896.
In the Hanging Gardens of Lillafüred, there is a charming statue of him holding birds in his hands. In Miskolc, a museum, schools, and a street are named after him.

The exhibition, renovated in 2022, is titled A Visit to Ottó Herman. It tells the story of the daily life in the Pele House, which was used as a summer retreat by the scientist and his wife, Kamilla Borosnyay, through a fictional narrative framework. Visitors are greeted with a display that evokes the polymath's former holiday home with splendid decor and original artefacts, making anyone who visits the memorial house truly feel like a guest of Ottó Herman.