Géza Gárdonyi

Born as Géza Ziegler on August 3, 1863, he became known as Géza Gárdonyi and built a career as a writer and journalist. He wrote in several forms, but he is remembered above all as a novelist whose stories reached a wide popular audience.

His strongest success came with historical fiction, especially Eclipse of the Crescent Moon and Slave of the Huns. Earlier in his career he also became known in the 1890s for the humorous “Gábor Göre” pieces, which helped establish his name with readers.

Gárdonyi spent much of his later life in Eger, where he lived from 1897 until his death on October 30, 1922. His work has remained an important part of Hungarian literary culture, and his home in Eger is preserved as a memorial museum.