Uzhhorod River Uzh 1.JPG

Uzhhorod ( uk, У́жгород, , ; ) is a city and municipality on the river Uzh in western Ukraine, at the border with Slovakia and near the border with Hungary. The city is approximately equidistant from the Baltic, the Adriatic and the Black Sea (650–690 km) making it the most inland city in this part of Europe. It is the administrative center of Zakarpattia Oblast (region), as well as the administrative center of the Uzhhorod Raion (district) within the oblast. Population:

Name

The city's earliest known name is ''Ungvár'', from Hungarian ''Ung'' ( River Uzh) and ''vár'' "castle, fortress", originally referring to a castle outside the city (probably Nevytske Castle).

The name ''Uzhhorod'' was coined in early 19th century Slavophile circles as a literal translation of the name ''Ungvár''. The city officially adopted this name some time after 1920, under Czechoslovak administration.

The names of the city also include: en, link=no, Uzhgorod (before 1996); rue, Ужгород, Užhorod, rue, Унґвар, Ungvar (historically); yi, אונגווער, Ingver, yi, אונגוואַר, Ungvar; cz, Užhorod; sk, Užhorod; german: link=no, Ungwar, Ungarisch Burg or Ungstadt; pl, Użhorod; ro, Ujgorod.

History

Early history

Slavic beginnings

The best known of the first city founders are early Slavs. One of their tribes – White Croats – settled the area of the modern Uzhhorod in the second half of the first millennium AD. During the 9th century a fortified castle changed into a fortified early feudal town-settlement, which became the center of a new Slavic principality, at the head of which was a mythical prince Laborec, who was vassal of Great Moravia . Great Moravia, according to historians and experts did not extend as far east as Uzhgorod, in fact, it was west of what is now the City of Bratislava, Slovakia. According to Gesta Hungarorum, the city was under the rule of Salan, the Bulgarian Prince.

Magyar conquest (895)

Having been encouraged by Salan's men, Almos's Magyars who had arrived in the region from Kyiv (then known as Kevevara) stormed Ung fortress in 895 AD. They encountered no resistance from the original "Ungvarian" White-Croats under Laborec and, after capture, Laborec was beheaded on the banks of the Laborcy river that still carries his name. Having taken over the Ung-Var, Almos appointed his son Árpád as prince of Hunguaria and from Ung-Var all of his warriors were called Hungarians instead.

10th–15th centuries

After the arrival of the Hungarians, the small town began to extend its borders. In 1241–1242 the Mongols of Batu Khan burnt the settlement. After, in 1248 the city was granted town privileges by the Béla IV of Hungary, King Béla IV of Hungary. In the early 14th century, Uzhhorod showed strong resistance to the new Hungarian rulers of the Capetian House of Anjou, Anjou dynasty. Although the majority of inhabitants were Hungarians, they wanted more freedom. From 1318 for 360 years, the Drugeths (Italian counts from the Kingdom of Naples) owned the town. During that period Philip Drugeth built Uzhhorod Castle. Together with the castle, the city began to grow. From 1430, Uzhhorod became a free royal town.

16th–18th centuries

During the 16–17th centuries there were many handicraft corporations in Uzhhorod. In this period the city was engaged in the religious fight between primarily Protestant Transylvania and Roman Catholic Church, Catholic Austria. In 1646 the Union of Uzhhorod, Union of Ungvár was proclaimed and the Greek-Catholic church was established in Subcarpathia, in a ceremony held in the Ungvár castle by the Vatican City, Vatican Aegis. In 1707 Ungvár was the residence of Ferenc II Rákóczi, leader of the national liberation war of Hungarians against Vienna. From 1780 the city became the capital of the Greek Catholic Eparchy of Mukachevo, Greek Catholic Eparchy and from 1776 the center of a newly created school district.

19th century

The beginning of the 19th century was characterized by economic changes, including the first factories in the city. The greatest influence on Ungvár among the political events of the 19th century was made by the Hungarian Revolution of 1848-1849, during which the native Hungarian nobility sought both to shake off the suzerainty of the Austrian Empire and to have authority over their own people. 27 March 1848 was officially celebrated in the city as the overthrow of the monarchy in Hungary. It is now celebrated in Hungary on 15 March.

In 1872 the first railway line opened, linking the city to the important railway junction of Chop, Ukraine, Chop, then known as Csap.

20th century

According to the 1910 census, the city had 16,919 inhabitants, of which 13,590 (80.3%) were Magyars, 1,219 (7.2%) Slovaks, 1,151 (6.8%) Germans, 641 (3.8%) Rusyns and 1.6% Czech people, Czechs. Since Jews were not counted as ethnicity (as defined by language), rather only religious group, this Austrian-Hungarian census does not specifically mention the Jewish population, which was significant, and represented about 31% of the total population in 1910. At the same time, the municipal area of the city had a population composed of 10,541 (39.05%) Hungarians, 9,908 (36.71%) Slovaks, and 5,520 (20.45%) Rusyns.

The First World War slowed down the tempo of city development. On 10 September 1919, Carpathian Ruthenia, Subcarpathia was officially allocated to the Republic of Czechoslovakia. Uzhhorod became the administrative center of the territory. During these years Uzhhorod developed into an architecturally modern city.

After the First Vienna Award in 1938, Uzhhorod was given back to Hungary from which it was separated after WWI.

In 1941 the Jewish population reached 9,576. On 19 March 1944, Germans troops entered the city. They established a ''Judenrat'' (Jewish council) and set up two ghettos, at the Moskovitz brickyard and Gluck lumberyard. During May 1944, all Jews were deported to Auschwitz in five different transports and subsequently murdered. Only a few hundred Jews survived.

On 27 October 1944, the city was captured by the troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front of the Red Army. Thousands of ethnic Hungarians were killed, expelled, or else taken to work in Soviet forced labor camps. The Hungarian majority population was decimated in order to strengthen the Soviet and Ukrainian right to the city.

This period brought significant changes. On the outskirts of Uzhhorod new enterprises were constructed and the old enterprises were renewed. On 29 June 1945, Subcarpathian Ukraine was annexed by the Soviet Union and became a westernmost part of the Ukrainian SSR. That year the Uzhhorod State University (now Uzhhorod National University) was also opened. Since January 1946 Uzhhorod was the center of newly formed Zakarpatska oblast.

Since 1991 Uzhhorod has become one of 24 regional capitals within Ukraine. Of these, Uzhhorod is the smallest and westernmost.

21st century

In 2002, a bust of Tomáš Masaryk, Czechoslovakia's first president, was unveiled in a main square of the city. A similar bust was unveiled in 1928 on the 10th anniversary of Czechoslovak independence, but was removed by the Hungarians when they took over the region in 1939.

On 15 April 2022, as part of the Derussification in Ukraine, derussification campaign that swept through Ukraine following the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Uzhhorod City Council decided to rename 58 streets connected to Russian figures.

United States First Lady Jill Biden visited the city on 8 May 2022, which was not announced to the public until after the visit.

Climate

Uzhhorod has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification, Köppen: ''Dfb'') with cool to cold winters and warm summers. The coldest month is January with an average temperature of while the warmest month is July with an average temperature of . The coldest temperature ever recorded is and the warmest temperature was . Average annual precipitation is , which is evenly distributed throughout the year though the summer months have higher precipitation. On average, Uzhhorod receives 2023 hours of sunshine per year.

Demographics

According to the Ukrainian Census (2001), Ukrainian 2001 census, the population of Uzhhorod included:
* Ukrainians including Rusyns (77.8%)
* Russians (9.6%)
* Hungarians (6.9%)
* Slovaks (2.2%)
* Romani people, Romani (1.5%)

Transportation

The city is served by Uzhhorod Central Rail Terminal, Uzhhorod railway station and has railway connections with Chop, Ukraine, Chop and Lviv. It is also served by Uzhhorod International Airport.Flights to resume at Uzhgorod Airport as Ukraine, Slovakia reportedly settle border issues
UNIAN (19 August 2020)

Sport

The city was home to the SC Rusj Užhorod football club from 1925. Contemporary side FC Hoverla Uzhhorod made their debut in the Ukrainian Premier League in 2001, but dissolved in 2016 due to money issues.

In 2020 professional football matches at the Ukrainian Premier League, highest levels of Ukraine returned to Uzhhorod since the 2020–21 Ukrainian Premier League, 2020–21 season FC Mynai plays its home matches in the Avanhard Stadium (Uzhhorod), Avanhard Stadium. FC Uzhhorod currently in Ukrainian Second League also plays its matches at Avanhard Stadium.

International relations

Uzhhorod is currently Twin towns and sister cities, twinned with:

* Békéscsaba, Hungary
* Nyíregyháza, Hungary
* Szombathely, Hungary
* Trogir, Croatia
* Pula, Croatia
* Corvallis, Oregon, Corvallis, Oregon, United States, US
* Darmstadt, Germany, since 1992
* Košice, Slovakia, since 1993
* Krosno, Poland, since 2008'
* Jarosław, Poland, since 2002'
* Česká Lípa, Czech Republic
* Satu Mare, Romania
* Târgu Mureș, Romania

Notable people

* Arieh Atzmoni (1926–2005) an Israeli soldier rewarded with the Hero of Israel
* János Erdélyi (1814 in Veľké Kapušany – 1868) Hungarian poet, critic, author and philosopher.
* Renée Firestone (born 1924), Holocaust survivor, fashion designer
* Lisa Fittko (1909–2005) author and helper to many escaping Nazi-occupied France during WWII.
* Wilem Frischmann (born 1931) WWII refugee, became a leading British engineer
* Shlomo Ganzfried (1804–1886), an Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox rabbi of Ungvar and posek
* József Gáti (1885-1945) an ethnic Hungarian communist politician from Carpathian Ruthenia, Subcarpathian Rus
* Jenő Janovics (1872–1945) a Hungarian film director, screenwriter and actor of the silent era.
* Józef Kasparek (1915 in Broumov - 2002), a Poland, Polish lawyer, historian and political scientist in the US; carried out covert operations in Carpathian Ruthenia, Carpathian Rus 1938/39.
* Mikhail Kopelman (born 1947), a Russian-American violinist, first violin in the Kopelman Quartet
* Joseph L. Kun (1882–1961), emigrated to the US aged 4, became a judge in Pennsylvania courts of common pleas, Pennsylvania
* Serhiy Kvit (born 1965), a Ukrainian literary critic, journalist, educator and social activist.
* S. Lipschütz, Samuel Lipschütz (1863–1905), a chess player and author
* Nil Lushchak (born 1973) a Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church, Ruthenian Catholic hierarch for Greek Catholic Eparchy of Mukachevo, Mukachevo.
* Jonathan Markovitch (born 1967) a Ukrainian rabbi and the Chief rabbi of Kyiv
* József Örmény (born 1960), a Ukrainian pianist of Hungarian origin.
* Ilka Pálmay (1859–1945), a Hungarian-born singer and actress.
* Dezső Pattantyús-Ábrahám (1875–1973) a Hungarian politician from an ancient and noble family
* Serhiy Ratushniak (born 1961) former long-term Mayor of Uzhhorod, 1994–2002 & 2006–2010
* Lika Roman (born 1985), a Ukrainian model, charity worker and Miss Ukraine, 2007
* Zsuzsanna Sirokay (born 1941) a Hungarian pianist, she lives in Switzerland.
* Avgustyn Voloshyn (1874 in Kelechyn – 1945), a Outer Subcarpathia, Subcarpathian politician, teacher and priest
* Yolka (singer), Yolka (born 1982), singer, songwriter, recording artist, presenter and actress.
* Anatoly Zatin (born 1954), a Mexican composer, pianist and orchestral conductor
* Gregory Zatkovich (1886 in Holubyne – 1967), an American lawyer and first governor of Carpathian Ruthenia
* Paul Zatkovich (1852—1916) newspaper editor and cultural activist for Rusyns in the US.

Sport

* Matviy Bobal (born 1984) a Ukrainian football forward with ca. 300 club caps
* Juraj Demeč (born 1945) a Czechoslovak former track and field athlete who competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics
* Vladimir Koman (born 1989), a footballer with nearly 300 club caps and 36 for Hungary national football team, Hungary
* Vladyslav Mykulyak (born 1984) a Ukrainian retired footballer with 320 club caps.
* Yozhef Sabo (born 1940), a former football player with 347 club caps and 76 for the Soviet Union national football team, Soviet Union
* György Sándor (footballer), György Sándor (born 1984) a Carpathian Ruthenian footballer with 370 club caps and 9 for Hungary national football team, Hungary
* István Sándor (footballer, born 1986), István Sándor (born 1986) an Hungarian footballer with 380 club caps
* Daria Shestakova (born 1996) a Russian rugby sevens player.
* Tetyana Trehubová (born 1989) a Ukrainian-born Slovak handball player.

See also

* Bridges in Uzhhorod
* Uzhgorod Synagogue
* Zakarpattia Oblast

References

Further reading

* Rampley, Matthew (2019). "Uzhhorod Modernism" (2019). https://craace.com/2019/05/09/uzhhorod-modernism/
*

External links

Official website of the City

Official website of Uzhhorod National University

Uzhhorod in old postcards

Uzhhorod Modernism Architectural Manual

{{Authority control

Uzhhorod,
Cities in Zakarpattia Oblast
Shtetls
Populated places established in the 9th century
Cities of regional significance in Ukraine
Oblast centers in Ukraine