Sopron (; german: Ödenburg, ; sl, Šopron) is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

in Hungary on the Austrian border, near Lake Neusiedl/Lake Fertő.

History

Ancient times-13th century

When the area that is today Western Hungary was a province of the Roman Empire, a city called ''Scarbantia'' stood here. Its

forum Forum or The Forum (plural forums or fora) may refer to: Common uses * Forum (legal), designated space for public expression in the United States *Forum (Roman), open public space within a Roman city **Roman Forum, most famous example *Internet ...

was located where the main square of Sopron can be found today. During the

Migration Period The Migration Period was a period in European history marked by large-scale migrations that saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire and subsequent settlement of its former territories by various tribes, and the establishment of the post-Roman ...

, Scarbantia was believed to be deserted. When Hungarians arrived in the area, the city was in ruins. From the 9th to the 11th centuries, Hungarians strengthened the old Roman city walls and built a castle. The city was named in Hungarian after a castle steward named ''Suprun''. In 1153, it was mentioned as an important city. In 1273, King

Otakar II of Bohemia Ottokar II ( cs, Přemysl Otakar II.; , in Městec Králové, Bohemia – 26 August 1278, in Dürnkrut, Lower Austria), the Iron and Golden King, was a member of the Přemyslid dynasty who reigned as King of Bohemia from 1253 until his deat ...

occupied the castle. Even though he took the children of Sopron's nobility with him as hostages, the city opened its gates when the armies of King Ladislaus IV of Hungary arrived. Ladislaus rewarded Sopron by elevating it to the rank of

free royal town Royal free city or free royal city (Latin: libera regia civitas) was the official term for the most important cities in the Kingdom of Hungary from the late 12th centuryBácskai Vera – Nagy Lajos: Piackörzetek, piacközpontok és városok Magy ...

16th-19th centuries

During the Ottoman occupation of Hungary, the

Ottoman Turks The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

ravaged the city in 1529 but did not occupy it. Many Hungarians fled from the occupied areas to Sopron, and the city's importance grew. While the Ottomans occupied most of Central Europe, the region north of Lake Balaton remained in the Kingdom of Hungary (1538–1867) (captaincy between Balaton and Drava). In 1676, Sopron was destroyed by a fire. The modern city was born over the next few decades, when

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

buildings were built to replace the destroyed medieval ones. Sopron became the seat of the comitatus Sopron. The town was the seat of the ''Ödenburg'' comitat near 1850. After the

compromise of 1867 The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 (german: Ausgleich, hu, Kiegyezés) established the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary. The Compromise only partially re-established the former pre-1848 sovereignty and status of the Kingdom of Hungary ...

and until 1918, the city (known with the dual bilingual name of ''Sopron - Ödenburg'') was part of the Habsburg-ruled Kingdom of Hungary.

20th century to present

Following the breakup of the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

, ethnic Austrians inhabited parts of four western Hungarian counties: Pozsony (Pressburg in German;

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

in Czech/Slovak), Vas (Eisenburg), Sopron (Ödenburg) and

Moson Moson (German language, German: Wieselburg, Slovak language, Slovak: Mošon) was an administrative county (Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary), comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary, situated mostly on the right (south) side of the Danube river. Its t ...

(Wieselburg). The Austrian-inhabited parts of those counties were initially awarded to Austria in the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919). After local unrest and Italian diplomatic mediation in the

Venice Protocol Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The islan ...

, Sopron's status as part of Hungary (along with that of the surrounding eight villages) was decided by a controversial, local plebiscite held on December 14, 1921, with 65% voting for Hungary. Since then Sopron has been called ''Civitas Fidelissima'' ("The Most Loyal Town", hu, A Leghűségesebb Város), and the anniversary of the plebiscite is a city holiday. However, the western parts of Vas, Sopron and Moson counties joined Austria and now form the Austrian federal state of Burgenland, and Pressburg/Pozsony was awarded to Czechoslovakia. Sopron suffered greatly during World War II and was bombed several times. The Soviet Red Army captured the city on April 1, 1945. On August 19, 1989, Sopron was the site of the Pan-European Picnic, a protest on the border between Austria and Hungary, which was used by over 600 citizens of East Germany to escape to the West. As the first successful crossing of the border, it helped pave the way for the mass flight of East German citizens that led to the fall of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

on November 9, 1989. During the Socialist era, the government tried to turn Sopron into an industrial city, but much of the medieval town center remains, allowing the city to remain an attractive site for tourists. Today, Sopron's economy immensely benefits from the European Union. Having been a city close to nowhere, that is, to the

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its s ...

, Sopron now has re-established full trade relations to nearby Austria. Furthermore, after being suppressed during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

, Sopron's German-speaking culture and heritage are now recognized again. As a consequence, many of the city's street-and traffic-signs are written in both Hungarian and German making it an officially bilingual city due to its proximity to the Austrian frontier. Visitors admire the large number of buildings in this city that reflect medieval architecture - rare in war-torn Hungary. Situated close to the Austrian border, Sopron receives many visitors from Vienna ( away), and from Bratislava, Slovakia ( away), as well as from the United States, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Japan, and Scandinavia, who visit to take advantage of the excellent low-cost dental services offered: Sopron boasts so many dental clinics—more than 300—that the city is known as the "dental capital of the world."

Wine production

Sopron is a significant wine producing region, one of the few in Hungary to make both red and white wines. Grapes include Kékfrankos for red wine and Traminer ( Gewürztraminer) for white wine. In climate it is similar to the neighbouring Burgenland wine region in Austria, and several winemakers make wine in both countries. Blue Frankish (= Kékfrankos, Blaufränkisch), Traminer, and Green Veltliner (= Zöld Veltelini, Grüner Veltliner) are well-known Sopron wines. Sopron's Blue Frankish and Pinot Noir wines are particularly prized.

Demographics

In 1910, Sopron had 33,931 inhabitants (51%

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

, 44.3% Hungarian, 4.7% other). Religions: 64.1% Roman Catholic, 27.8% Lutheran, 6.6% Jewish, 1.2% Calvinist, 0.3% other. In 2001, the city had 56,125 inhabitants (92.8% Hungarian, 3.5% German, 3.7% other). Religions: 69% Roman Catholic, 7% Lutheran, 3% Calvinist, 8.1%

Atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

, 11.9% no answer, 1% other.

Architecture

The architecture of the old section of town reflects its long history; walls and foundations from the Roman Empire are still common, together with a wealth of Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque structures, often artistically decorated, showing centuries of stability and prosperity. There is an old

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

and other remains from the town's former Jewish community, which was expelled in the 16th century. On Daloshegy, there is a 165-metre tall FM-/TV-broadcasting tower, nicknamed "Rakéta" (Hungarian for rocket).

Places of interest

* City centre * Firewatch Tower * Walls with Roman origin * Széchenyi Square and Flag of Loyalty * Kecske Church * Esterházy Palace (baroque) * Eggenberg House * City Hall (eclectic, 1895) * Storno House (renaissance) * Fabricius House * "Two Moors" House (18th century baroque) * Chemist's Museum (15th–16th century. The house was pronounced the first national monument in Hungary by Louis II of Hungary in 1525.) * Lábasház (16th–17th century) * Gambrinus House (Old city hall) * Taródi Castle (István Taródi built the castle by himself. He started the building operations in 1945, when he was 20.)

Amusement

* Cartoon Forum (From Tuesday 14 to Friday 17 September 2010) * Spring Festival of Sopron (Soproni Tavaszi Fesztivál) * Festal Weeks of Sopron (Soproni Ünnepi Hetek) * VOLT festival * Civitas Pinceszínház (Civitas Basement Theater) * Liszt Ferenc Művelődési Központ (Franz Liszt Conference and Cultural Centre )

Politics

The current mayor of Sopron is Ciprián Farkas (''Fidesz-KDNP''). The local Municipal Assembly, elected at the 2019 local government elections, is made up of 18 members (1 Mayor, 12 Individual constituencies MEPs and 5 Compensation List MEPs) divided into this political parties and alliances:

Gallery

File:Goat Church and Holy Trinity Column, Sopron.jpg, Goat Church and Holy Trinity Column File:Saint Michael's Church, Sopron.jpg, Saint Michael's Church File:Sopron Megyeháza.jpg, County Hall of Győr-Moson-Sopron County File:Sopron 86 Stadtturm.JPG, Fire Tower File:Sopron 156 Városháza.jpg, Town Hall File:Sopron Petőfi Színház főhomlokzat.jpg, Petőfi Theater File:Eszterhazypalota.JPG, Esterházy Palace in the Temple Street File:Lábasházsopron.JPG, Orsolya Square and the Mary Fountain File:SopronneugasseNr4.JPG, New Street File:Új utca 16 Sopron.jpg, Gothic house in the New Street File:Előkapu3sopron.JPG, Előkapu Square File:Kolostor u 13 Sopron.JPG, House, Kolostor Street 13. File:Ikvahidsopron.JPG, Ikva Bridge File:Szechenyi z01.jpg, Statue of István Széchenyi File:Sopron.Grabenrunde.zweisprachiges.Strassenschild.jpg, Bilingual ( Hungarian/

) road signs in Sopron. File:Ortstafel Ödenburg.jpg, Bilingual sign

Sports

The women's basketball team Sopron Basket is one of the most successful Hungarian basketball team in the history with 15 National titles and they success in Europe, in

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

they won EuroLeague.

MFC Sopron FC Sopron was a Hungarian football club from the town of Sopron, near the Austrian border. It was founded in 1921 as ''Soproni Postás''. The club's home stadium is Stadion Városi with a capacity of 5,300. With the beginning of the season 2007 ...

was a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team based in Sopron. The successor of the club is Soproni VSE.

Notable residents

* Rogerius of Apulia (1205-1266), medieval chronicler *

Anna Maria von Eggenberg, née Brandenburg-Bayreuth Anna Maria Princess of Eggenberg, née Brandenburg-Bayreuth (born 30 December 1609 in Bayreuth; died 8 May 1680 in Ödenburg) was a Margravine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth and, by marriage Johann Anton I von Eggenberg, a ''Fürstin'' (princess) of Hou ...

(1609-1680), Margravine of

Brandenburg-Bayreuth The Principality of Bayreuth (german: Fürstentum Bayreuth) or Margraviate of Brandenburg-Bayreuth (''Markgraftum Brandenburg-Bayreuth'') was an immediate territory of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled by a Franconian branch of the Hohenzollern dyna ...

and Princess of Eggenberg * Dániel Berzsenyi (1776-1836), poet * Ludwig von Benedek (1804-1881), Austrian general *

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

(1811-1886), composer * Franz von Suppé (1819-1895), composer * Julius Lenck (1845 - 1901), Hungarian-German brewer, wholesaler and the founder of the Sopron Brewery (Soproni Sörgyár). *

Gyula Fényi Fényi Gyula (8 January 1845 – 21 December 1927) was a Hungary, Hungarian Society of Jesus, Jesuit and astronomer. He is also known by the name ''P. Julius Fenyi SJ''. He is best known for his work on the Sun and leading the Haynald Observatory ...

(1845-1927), astronomer *

László Rátz László Rátz (9 April 1863 in Sopron – 30 September 1930 in Budapest) was a Hungarian mathematics high school teacher best known for educating such people as John von Neumann and Nobel laureate Eugene Wigner. He was a legendary teac ...

(1863-1930), mathematics teacher *

Kálmán Kánya Kálmán de Kánya (7 November 1869 – 28 February 1945), Foreign Minister of Hungary during the Horthy era. He started his diplomatic career in Constantinople. In 1913 he appointed as Austro-Hungarian ambassador to Mexico later to Berlin. Fr ...

(1869-1945), politician, diplomat, Foreign Minister * Franz Lehár (1870-1948), composer *

Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as H ...

(1881-1945), composer * Charles I of Austria (1887-1922), last king of Hungary * Georg Trakl (1887-1914), poet * Mátyás Rákosi (1892-1971), politician, communist leader * David-Zvi Pinkas (1895-1952), signatory of the

Israeli declaration of independence The Israeli Declaration of Independence, formally the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel ( he, הכרזה על הקמת מדינת ישראל), was proclaimed on 14 May 1948 ( 5 Iyar 5708) by David Ben-Gurion, the Executive ...

* Margaret Mahler (1897-1985), psychoanalyst *

Sandor Gallus Sandor (Alexander) Gallus (15 November 1907 – 29 December 1996) was a Melbourne archaeologist, most famous for his investigations of Pleistocene Aboriginal occupation at Koonalda Cave in South Australia and the Dry Creek archaeological site i ...

(1907-1996), archaeologist * (born 1933), Professor of MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), sociologist * Alexander Gallus (born 1940), medical researcher *

József Szájer József Szájer (born 7 September 1961) is a retired Hungarian politician and former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) of the Fidesz party. He resigned as MEP on 29 November 2020 (effective at the end of December) after having been caught ...

(born 1961), politician * István Hiller (born 1964), politician, Minister of Culture * Mihály Tóth (born 1974), football player *

Vilmos Radasics Vilmos 'Willy' Radasics (born October 25, 1983 in Sopron) is a Hungarian Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer. He took part in the UCI BMX World Championships 2008 in Taiyuan, China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is ...

(born 1983), BMX rider * Tímea Babos (born 1993), tennis player * Botond Balogh (born 2002), football player *

Balogh de Mankó Bük Balogh is a Hungarian surname of nobility, a variant of Balog, see article Balog (genus). Notable people with the surname include: *Ádám Balogh, one of the most famous kuruc colonels during Rákóczi's War for Independence *Béla Balogh, a Hunga ...

, Hungarian nobility *

József Rokop József () is a Hungarian masculine given name. It is the Hungarian name equivalent to Joseph. Notable people bearing this name include: * József Braun (also known as József Barna; 1901–1943), Hungarian Olympic footballer * József Cserm ...

, freedom fighter * Terezia Mora, writer

Twin towns – sister cities

Sopron is twinned with: * Bad Wimpfen, Germany *

Banská Štiavnica Banská Štiavnica (; german: Schemnitz; hu, Selmecbánya (Selmec), ) is a town in central Slovakia, in the middle of an immense caldera created by the collapse of an ancient volcano. For its size, the caldera is known as the Štiavnica Mountain ...

, Slovakia * Bolzano, Italy *

Eilat Eilat ( , ; he, אֵילַת ; ar, إِيلَات, Īlāt) is Israel's southernmost city, with a population of , a busy port and popular resort at the northern tip of the Red Sea, on what is known in Israel as the Gulf of Eilat and in Jordan ...

, Israel *

Eisenstadt Eisenstadt (; hu, Kismarton; hr, Željezni grad; ; sl, Železno, Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian: ''Eisnstod'') is a city in Austria, the state capital of Burgenland. It had a recorded population on 29 April 2021 of 15,074. In the Habsburg ...

, Austria *

Kazuno is a city located in Akita Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 30.715, and a population density of 43 persons per km² in 12.970 households. The total area of the city is . Geography Kazuno is located in a valley in t ...

, Japan * Kempten, Germany * Mediaș, Romania *

Rorschach Rorschach may refer to: * Hermann Rorschach, a Swiss psychiatrist ** Rorschach test, his psychological evaluation method involving inkblots * Rorschach (character), a character from the comics ''Watchmen'' * Rorschach (comic book), a 2020 comic * ...

, Switzerland *

Seinäjoki Seinäjoki (; "Wall River"; la, Wegelia, formerly sv, Östermyra) is a city located in South Ostrobothnia, Finland; east of Vaasa, north of Tampere, west of Jyväskylä and southwest of Oulu. Seinäjoki originated around the Östermyra bru ...

, Finland * Sparta, Greece

References

;Notes

External links

* in Hungarian, English and German
University of West Hungary (University of Sopron)

ImageTownsIndex - Virtual Tour of Sopron

Aerial photography: Sopron

Accommodation in Sopron

Sopron at funiq.hu
{{Authority control Populated places in Győr-Moson-Sopron County Cities with county rights of Hungary Siebengemeinden Hungarian German communities Wine regions of Hungary Austria–Hungary border crossings Roman settlements in Hungary Pannonia Superior