Károlyi Mansion, Fehérvárcsurgó, Neo-classical mansion in Fehérvárcsurgó, Hungary.
The Károlyi Mansion is a one-storey Classicist building with a central projecting bay topped by a shallow dome, a 30-metre tower with four corner turrets and a balustrade, and a French garden in the courtyard. It now operates as a 23-room hotel with guided tours.
The estate passed by pledge to Count György Károlyi in 1834 and was bought outright in 1853. The mansion was built between 1844 and 1851 to plans by Henrich Koch, with Miklós Ybl supervising on site. Around 1910 József Károlyi remodelled the courtyard facade in an eclectic Baroque style, adding the elliptical bow that now holds the library room. After 1945 the family was dispossessed and the building served as a holiday home, a refuge for Greek children and a state children's home until the 1980s.
The Károlyi József Foundation, set up in 1997 by György Károlyi of Paris, runs the mansion as a European cultural meeting centre, a member of the network of European cultural centres. Its programme includes a March international conference, spring European Garden Art Days, the September Quartettissimo string quartet festival and candlelit concerts twice a year. The Fejtő Ferenc and Vajay Szabolcs book collections are kept in the library.
The park is easy to access and provides parking for cars and buses, making a comfortable visit possible. The paths are well-maintained and there are rest areas where you can linger between activities.
The mansion's decorative library holds the book bequest of historian Szabolcs Vajay, a researcher of genealogy and heraldry, with archival material such as correspondence, notes and manuscripts on Hungarian and European family history. Writer Ferenc Fejtő, who lived in France, donated his library of several thousand volumes, including his own works, to the castle before his death.
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