Szentgotthárd ( sl, Monošter; german: St. Gotthard) is the westernmost town of

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

. It is situated on the Rába River near the

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n border.

History

The town took its name from, and grew up round, the

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint B ...

Szentgotthárd Abbey Szentgotthárd Abbey Janauschek number 470 is a former Cistercian monastery and church in Szentgotthárd Hungary that is now a Roman Catholic parish church. In hu, Szentgotthárdi ciszterci apátság; german: Kloster Sankt Gotthard; la, A ...

, founded here in 1183. In 1664, it was the site of the Battle of Saint Gotthard, where an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

army led by

Raimondo Montecuccoli Raimondo Montecuccoli (; 21 February 1609 – 16 October 1680) was an Italian-born professional soldier, military theorist, and diplomat, who served the Habsburg monarchy. Experiencing the Thirty Years' War from scratch as a simple footsoldier ...

defeated the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...

so that the Turks had to agree to the Peace of Vasvár, which held until 1683. A second Battle of Saint Gotthard in 1705 was a victory for Rákóczi's anti-Habsburg Hungarian rebels. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Szentgotthárd was captured by

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front on 31 March 1945 in the course of the

Vienna Offensive The Vienna offensive was an offensive launched by the Soviet 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts in order to capture Vienna, Austria, during World War II. The offensive lasted from 16 March to 15 April 1945. After several days of street-to-street f ...

Notable people

* Ferenc Joachim (1882–1964), painter *

Alajos Drávecz Alajos Drávecz ( sl, Alojz Dravec) (29 November 1866 – 28 August 1915) was a Slovenian ethnologist and writer. Born in Rábatótfalu (now Szentgotthárd). His parents were István Drávecz and Rozália Korpics. The young Drávecz and his wife ...

(1866–1915), Slovenian ethnologist and writer * Ágoston Pável (1886–1946), Hungarian Slovene writer and poet, graduated here * János Brenner (1931–1957), Roman Catholic priest, died here *

Irén Pavlics Irén Pavlics ( sl, Irena Pavlič) (15 November 1934 – 2 February 2022) was a Hungarian Slovene author and editor. Pavlics was born in the village of Rábatótfalu (today the suburb of Szentgotthárd), Hungary, in 1934. She graduated from S ...

(1934–2022), Hungarian Slovene author and editor *

Tibor Gécsek Tibor Gécsek (born 22 September 1964 in Szentgotthárd) is a retired male hammer thrower from Hungary. Gécsek is of Hungarian Slovenian descent. He won two consecutive World Championships bronze medals in 1993 and 1995. Later that year he re ...

(born 1964), hammer thrower * Krisztián Pars (born 1982), hammer thrower

Twin towns – sister cities

Szentgotthárd is twinned with: * Delle, France * Dilovası, Turkey * Frumoasa, Romania *

Izola Izola (; it, Isola ) is a town in southwestern Slovenia on the Adriatic coast of the Istrian peninsula. It is the seat of the Municipality of Izola. Its name originates from Italian ''Isola'', which means 'island'. History An ancient Roman ...

, Slovenia * Lendava, Slovenia *

Tarvisio Tarvisio (German and fur, Tarvis, sl, Trbiž) is a comune in the northeastern part of the autonomous Friuli Venezia Giulia region in Italy. Geography The town is in the Canal Valley (''Val Canale'') between the Carnic Alps and Karawanks rang ...

, Italy * Walldürn, Germany

References

External links

* in Hungarian, English, German and Slovenian
Page of Opel Hungary (Szentgotthárd plant)
Populated places in Vas County {{Hungary-hist-stub