Bányai Balázs - Kovács Eleonóra (szer.): A"Zichy-expedíció"- Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei. A. sorozat 48. (Székesfehérvár, 2013)
The "Zichy Expedition"
200 THE “ZICHY EXPEDITION the bag of the partridge-hunts in September and the big game hunts in November-January was a sign that he could invite hunters with high expectations to Zichyfalva and Felsőszentiván.65 The number of roebucks shot increased for a while, once he shot a capital roebuck.66 Many noble families from the vicinity (Zichy, Meszleny, Szőgyény-Marich and Bernrieder) and many male members of more distant families (Bethlen, Edelsheim-Gyulai and Wurmbrand) were invited to the hunts. MPs, colleagues and his friends from the Vörösmarty Circle, the Historical and Archeological Association, and from the county-institutions of administration and jurisdiction were often present. His constant guests were his supposedly best friend colonel Gusztáv Elek and the renowned painter Géza Mészöly, whose painting of Zichy’s hunting group is a widely known masterpiece. The most famous guest in Felsőszentiván was his friend, the former Serbian king, Milan.67 The nice one-storied manor house in Kálóz from the 18th century was sold at that time,68 because the other buildings were enough to welcome and accommodate the guests. Jenő Zichy’s most famous hunts were not held in County Fejér but in County Bihar. The manors in Bihar were always the favoured hunting grounds for the family. They were given to Jenő Zichy by his father at Christmas 1883. In the middle of the forest, on a plateau on the top of the mountain Pojana-flora stood the family’s small wooden hunting lodge. Immediately after receiving the manor, Jenő Zichy started to plant trees on the plateau and in 1887 he built a bigger wooden hunting lodge in American style in place of the old one. In this lodge he could accommodate bigger parties. Here the primary hunting targets were boar and deer, the wolves, wildcats and foxes were thinned out to protect the targets. To further highten the light of his hunts, in 1889 the Count began to settle in stags that were unknown in this county. This changed the life of the manor and the county. The growing number of stags yielded nice results and great respect for the Count and his foresters in the mid 1890s. The stags spread from his manor to other parts of County Bihar. During this time, a hunting castle worthy of the importance of the hunting ground and of the authorithy of the Count, was built. This new stone castle was to replace the wooden hunting lodge, that burned to the ground in 1890. According to his own notes, the Count himself designed the castle named Magaslak (High Lodge) after consulting with many architects and artisans. This new castle with four towers was completed in December 1891. Despite being only a hunting castle it satisfied the requirements of a noble residence in the countryside, because "aside from the separated living space of the landlord, it prided itself with a salon, a dining room, a bedroom, a nicely furnished library with many thou
