Oberpullendorf (; hr, Gornja Pulja or ; hu, Felsőpulya) is a town in

Burgenland Burgenland (; hu, Őrvidék; hr, Gradišće; Austro-Bavarian: ''Burgnland;'' Slovene: ''Gradiščanska'') is the easternmost and least populous state of Austria. It consists of two statutory cities and seven rural districts, with a total of ...

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 ...

. It is the administrative center of the district of Oberpullendorf.

Geography

Oberpullendorf is a municipality in the middle of the

. It consists of two united communities: Mitterpullendorf and Oberpullendorf, and is also the capital of the same called administrative district of Oberpullendorf. It is surrounded by the communities of Stoob to the north, Großwarasdorf to the east, Frankenau-Unterpullendorf to the south, and Steinberg-Dörfl to the west. The Stooberbach crosses the municipality from north-west to the south-east.

History

The district of Oberpullendorf has been populated since the

Neolithic age The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...

. During the early

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

the district was a flourishing

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in ...

industrial area. Josef Polatschek, a gardener and regional researcher, mapped several ancient iron extraction sites in the district. Oberpullendorf was firstly documented in 1225 as a Hungarian frontier guard settlement. Traditionally Oberpullendorf was the seat of several noble families, among them the Counts Cseszneky de Milvány and the Barons Rohonczy de Felsőpulya. In 1853 Oberpullendorf became the location of a Hungarian revenue authority. After the demise of the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy in 1918, the German-speaking inhabitants of Deutsch-Westungarn ("German Western Hungary", later Burgenland) - Oberpullendorf being part of it - intended to join the "new" state of Austria. Back then, Oberpullendorf was part of

Sopron County Sopron (German: ''Ödenburg'') was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is now divided between Austria and Hungary. The capital of the county was Sopron. Geography Sopron county shared borders with the A ...

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 ...

. The decision about Deutsch-Westungarn was fixed in the peace treaties of Saint Germain and Trianon. Despite diplomatic efforts by Hungary, the victorious parties of World War I set the date of Burgenland's official unification with Austria as August 28, 1921. (Also see:

) In 1958 the two communities of Ober- and Mitterpullendorf were consolidated and since 1975 Oberpullendorf is a municipality.

Coat of arms

On a red shield a golden city wall with an open portcullis can be seen. Above that, a golden lion facing to the right is holding a golden sword and in the background a golden ploughshare is situated, which is accompanied by two golden ears of corn.

Politics

Johann Heisz, a member of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), is the mayor of the town. The parish council consists of 23 mandates - of which the ÖVP (

Austrian People's Party The Austrian People's Party (german: Österreichische Volkspartei , ÖVP ) is a Christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Austria. Since December 2021, the party has been led provisionally by Karl Nehammer. It is curre ...

) is holding 13 mandates and the SPÖ (

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

) has 10 mandates. (2022)

Culture and sights

• Haus St. Stephan - the former castle of the ''Rohonczy'' family • Franziskuskirche (Church of St. Francis) - built in 1707, making it the oldest building in Oberpullendorf

Notable residents

* Matthias Bleyer (born 1969), football player *

György Cseszneky György () is a Hungarian version of the name '' George''. Some notable people with this given name: * György Alexits, as a Hungarian mathematician * György Almásy, Hungarian asiologist, traveler, zoologist and ethnographer, father of Lászl ...

(16th century), count, benefactor * Paul Kiss (born 1947), politician * Sándor Kozina (1808–1873), painter *

Elisabeth Kulman Elisabeth Kulman (born 28 June 1973) is an Austrian classical singer who has performed operatic roles in soprano, mezzo-soprano and contralto repertory. She has appeared at opera houses in Vienna and internationally. She has performed early operas ...

(born 1973), singer * Mario Lösch (born 1989), professional footballer * György Rohonczy (1837–1914), field marshal * Horst Steiger (1970–1995), football player * Jutta Treiber (born 1949), writer *

Miriam Ziegler Miriam Ziegler (born 19 March 1994) is a retired Austrian pair skater. With her skating partner, Severin Kiefer, she is a seven-time Austrian national champion (2014–16, 2018, 2020–22) and represented Austria at the 2014, 2018 and 2022 Wint ...

(born 1994), figure skater

References

External links

Official Website of Oberpullendorf
Cities and towns in Oberpullendorf District {{Burgenland-geo-stub