Balázs Orbán

Orbán worked between 1829 and 1890 across historian, politician, writer, ethnologist and photographer. This article rests on 6 published texts and 21 scholarly references drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.

• Name — Balázs Orbán • Born — 3 February 1829 • Birthplace — Lengyelfalva, Principality of Transylvania (today Polonița, Romania) • Died — 19 April 1890 • Place of death — Budapest, Hungary • Occupation — Writer, Historian and Politician • Notable Works — "Description of the Székely Land from the point of view of history, archaeology, geography and folklore"

He was born at Lengyelfalva, near Székelyudvarhely, Principality of Transylvania (today Polonița, Romania), into an old Székely family from Udvarhelyszék. His father, János Orbán, Baron of Lengyelfalva (1779-1871) was a parliamentarian, who during the French wars was an army officer; his mother was Eugénia Knechtel (1810-1883), born into an ethnic Greek family in Constantinople. The Baron title was given to Orbán by Maria Theresa to the great-grandfather of Balázs Orbán, Elek Orbán von Lengyelfalva on the 13th of November 1744. • Illustration — Photo of Baron Balázs Orbán in The Sunday Newspaper, 1890/17th edition He completed his schooling in Székelyudvarhely, first to a catholic then to a reformed grammar school as he could learn ancient Greek, Math, and History there, but he had left his homeland already in the summer of 1846. He and his family traveled to Constantinople to receive the heritage of his grandmother, Mária Foresti, who was descended from Venice and probably poisoned by Muslims. After long lawsuits he only received a small part of the fabulous fortune, so he learned the craft of watchmaking. Taking the opportunity, he traveled around the Near East. He had got to Egypt, where he climbed the pyramids, in the Holy Land visited the biblical places, met a lot of Hungarian and Romanian “Bedouin” from Transylvania, who escaped the military conscription, traveled around Asia Minor, studied the ancient Greek cultural remains, wrote admiringly about the revolution of the Greek people. He later published his Eastern adventures in six volumes, entitled Traveling in the East. As a result of what he has seen here, he had adopted strongly anti-clerical views, which he has voiced in several of his works. He learned about the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 from a Western newspaper in Athens. He left the Ottoman capital with a military unit of volunteers but learned of the fall of the War of Independence in Vidin. He then helped the Hungarian emigrants with accommodation and work. It was a decisive experience of his later life that he was in the surroundings of Kossuth. He could not return home, because he was considered as an enemy by the Habsburg imperial authorities. He traveled to London, where he met Petőfi's friend, Sándor Teleki. He was greatly influenced by Victor Hugo, who migrated to Jersey and then to Guernsey, who said that “I could overthrow The Empire of Napoleon the 3rd with 200 Balázs Orbáns”. He could not return home until 1859. He used the years of absolutism, the period of relief, to travel around the Székely Land. He visited all the settlements, castle ruins, and natural rarities. He made notes and photographs diligently. As a result of his work, between 1868 and 1873 he published his main work in six volumes, entitled The description of the Székely Land in historical, archaeological, natural and ethnographic terms. From 1872 to the end of his life he was a member of the Hungarian Parliament, and with the independence program of 1848, he belonged to the opposition. He published his speeches in six volumes as well. Meanwhile, he worked on Szejkefürdő that he developed, writing historical studies and publishing numerous newspaper articles in opposition papers. • Illustration — Portrait of Balázs Orbán His life was adventurous and romantic, like a hero of Mór Jókai. But this novel was not written, although Mór Jókai first heard the base stories of the Székely novels from him. At the same time, there were downsides to his life as well. He was blackballed by Székelys at the time of the elections, they did not always agree with the “Bone Baron”. As a late acknowledgment, it was not until 1888 that he became a correspondent member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He died without any descendants.

• Travel in the East. Cluj Napoca, 1861, Six volumes • Description of the Székely Land from the point of view of history, archaeology, geography and folklore. Pest, 1868–73. Six volumes • Marosvásárhely royal city description. Pest, 1870 (Print from Volume IV of the Székely Land with 3 independent and 10 text pictures) • Description of Toroczkó and its valley in terms of archaeology, geography and folklore. Pest, 1871 (Print from Volume V of the Székely Land, 5 independent and 9 text pictures) • Brasov custom free royal city description in historical, archaeological and geographic terms. Pest, 1873 (Print from Volume VI of the Székely Land with 3 separate and 16 text images) • A description of the ten Hungarian villages of Barczaság, from historical and archaeological point of view. Pest, 1873 (Print from Volume VI of the Szeklerland with 3 individual and 14 text images) • Parliamentary speeches by Balázs Orbán from 1871 to 1884. Pest, 1875–84. Five booklets. (Print from the Parliamentary Journal) • The fairy world of the East or Sultan Saif Züliázán. Arabic legend. Translated after Ali-bey. Kolozsvár (Cluj Napoca). Two parts in a single volume (4 stone prints) • Hungarian folklore collection. (New journal III.) The Kisfaludy Society's assignment and is edited and published by them. Collection of János Kriza, Orbán Balázs, Benedek Elek and Jób Sebesi in Székely Land. Kolozsvár (Cluj Napoca), 1882 • About the origins and institutions of the Székelys. Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca), 1888 (Dissertations on History. XIII. 9).

Balázs Orbán's family tree • Baron Balázs Orbán (Lengyelfalva, 3 February 1829– Budapest, 19 April 1890) author, ethnographic collector — Father: János Orbán, Baron of Lengyelfalva (Kassamindszent, 1779–24 August 1871 Lengyelfalva) hussar Colonel — Paternal grandfather: Baron Pál Orbán (1751–1829) army major — Paternal great-grandfather: Baron Elek Orbán (Lengyelfalva, 1703– Harasztos, 1753) főkirálybiró • Paternal great-grandmother: Krisztina Olasz von Bencenc • Paternal grandmother: gr. cserneki és tarkői Dessewffy Klára — Paternal great-grandfather: Baron István Dessewffy deputy lieutenant • Paternal great-grandmother: gecsei Olasz Júlia • Mother: Knechtel Eugénia (Constantinople, 1810– Szejkefürdő, 12 December 1883) — Maternal grandfather: János Knechtel mining expert — Maternal great-grandfather: no data • Maternal great-grandmother: no data • Maternal grandmother: Mária Foresti — Maternal great-grandfather: no data • Maternal great-grandmother: no data

• Memory of Balázs Orbán, Budapest Dávid Ferenc Association, Budapest, 1940 • Károly Kós: Balázs Orbán, ethnographer, Scientific Publisher, Cluj-Napoca, 1957 • Balázs Orbán: The City of Turda and its surroundings (duplicate edition), Helikon Publisher, Budapest, 1984, • Balázs Orbán: The City of Turda and its Surroundings, Europe Publisher, Budapest, 1986, • Balázs Orbán: Székely Land and Transylvania, CD-ROM, Arcanum, Budapest, 2001, • Balázs Orbán: The description of the Székely Land from the point of view of history, archeology, natural history and folklore (duplicate edition), Babits Publisher, Szekszárd, 2002, • Description of the Székely Land at MEK • Turkish writings by Balázs Orbán on the Terebess Asia E-Library • Dániel Bolgár: Orientalism of Balázs Orbán, video presentation at Adatbank Café • Educational film about Balázs Orbán • Photographs of Balázs Orbán's grave

• Illustration — Balázs Orbán's honorary monument • Illustration — The statue of Orbán Balázs in Székelyudvarhely (Odorheiu Secuiesc) • Illustration — Szekler gates guide us on the path to his grave • Illustration — Székely gates on the path to his grave • Illustration — Szekler gates on the path to his eternal resting place

Balázs Orbán was born on 3 February 1829 in Polonița. Orbán held the nationality of Hungary. Orbán was educated at Baczkamadarasi Kis Gergely High School, Odorheiu Secuiesc, which Orbán left in 1846. Orbán worked as historian, politician, writer and ethnologist, and the authority record catalogues a further 1 occupations under the same name, among them photographer. Orbán worked in Budapest. Orbán worked in Hungarian.