|
|
|
|
Sopron
|
| |
|
| |
HistoryAncient times-1400s
The area has been inhabited since ancient times. When the area that is today Western Hungary was a province of the Roman Empire, a city called Scarbantia stood here. Its forum was located where the main square of Sopron is found today.
During the Migration Period Scarbantia was believed to be deserted and by the time Hungarians arrived in the area, it was in ruins. In the 9th–11th centuries Hungarians strengthened the old Roman city walls and built a castle. The town received its Hungarian name at this time from a castle steward named Suprun. In 1153 it was mentioned as an important town.
In 1273 King Otakar II of Bohemia 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. The king awarded Sopron by elevating it to the rank of free royal town.
1500s-1800sDuring the Ottoman occupation of Hungary the Ottoman Turks ravaged the city in 1529 but did not occupy it. Many people from the occupied areas fled to Sopron, and the city's importance grew.
In 1676 Sopron was destroyed by a fire. The modern-day city was born in the next few decades, when beautiful Baroque buildings were built in place of the old medieval ones. Sopron became seat of the comitatus Sopron.
1900sFollowing the break up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, four western Hungarian counties (Pressburg - Pozsony, Eisenburg - Vas, Ödenburg - Sopron, Wieselburg - Moson) German parts were awarded to Austria in the Treaties of St.Germain and Trianon. After local unrest, Sopron's status as part of Hungary (along with that of the surrounding eight villages) was decided by a local plebiscite held on December 14, 1921, with 65% voting for Hungary. Since then Sopron has been called Civitas Fidelissima ("The Most Loyal Town", ), and the anniversary of the plebiscite is a city holiday. The other three (the fourth county Pressburg - Pozsony remain in Czechoslovakia) western parts of the awarded counties today form the Austrian federal state of Burgenland.
Sopron suffered greatly during World War II, as the Nazis and their Hungarian allies transported to death camps and killed almost the all Jewish citizens and some left-wing workers, and it was bombed several times. The Soviet Red Army captured the city on April 1, 1945. In August 1989 It was the site of the Pan-European Picnic, a protest by right-wing activists on the border between Austria and Hungary, which was used by over 200 citizens of East Germany to cross illegally 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 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, Sopron now has reestablished full trade relations to nearby Austria. Furthermore, after being suppressed during the Cold War, Sopron's German culture and heritage is now recognized again. As a consequence in the city most street- and traffic-signs are written in Hungarian and German.
Wine productionSopron 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 for white wine. In climate it is similar to the neighbouring Burgenland wine region in Austria, and several winemakers make wine in both countries.
ArchitectureThe 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 and other remains from the town's former Jewish community, which was expelled in the 16th century.
Photo GallerySportsMFC Sopron is a football team based in Sopron.
Notable residents- Dániel Berzsenyi, poet
- Franz Liszt, composer
- Franz von Suppé, composer
- Georg Trakl, poet
- Rogerius of Apulia, author
- Mihály Tóth, football player
- Géza Ankerl, sociologist
- David-Zvi Pinkas, signatory of the Israeli declaration of independence
- Ludwig von Benedek, general
- Susie Babos, 2006 American collegiate singles tennis champion
- Krisztián Éder (SP) rap presenter, photographer
- Kálmán Kánya, politician, diplomat, Foreign Minister
- Béla Bartók, composer
- Mátyás Rákosi, politician
- Franz Lehár, composer
- László Rátz, mathematics teacher
- József Szájer, politician
- István Hiller, politician
- Rokop József, freedom fighter
Twin townsSopron is twinned with:
See also- Gyor-Moson-Sopron County
- Lake Neusiedl
External links, ,
|
| |
|
|
