| Sopron | |
| Other Name: | Ödenburg |
| Official Name: | Hungarian: Sopron Megyei Jogú Város |
| Nickname: | Civitas Fidelissima (Most Loyal City/Citizenry) |
| Timezone: | CET |
| Utc Offset: | +1 |
| Timezone Dst: | CEST |
| Utc Offset Dst: | +2 |
| Leader Title: | Mayor |
| Leader Name: | Dr. Farkas Ciprián (Fidesz-KDNP) |
| Leader Title1: | Deputy Mayor |
| Leader Name1: | Dr. István Simon (Fidesz-KDNP) |
| Leader Title2: | Town Notary |
| Leader Name2: | Dr. Szabolcs Sárvári |
| Pushpin Map: | Hungary Győr-Moson-Sopron#Hungary |
| Pushpin Relief: | 1 |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of Sopron |
| Pushpin Mapsize: | 270 |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Type1: | Region |
| Subdivision Name1: | Western Transdanubia |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Subdivision Name2: | Győr-Moson-Sopron |
| Subdivision Type3: | District |
| Subdivision Name3: | Sopron |
| Established Title1: | Established |
| Established Date1: | 2nd century AD (Scarbantia) |
| Established Title2: | Re-Established |
| Established Date2: | 9th century AD (Sopron) |
| Established Title3: | City status |
| Established Date3: | 1277 |
| Area Total Km2: | 169.04 |
| Population Total: | 62,116[1] |
| Population Rank: | 15th |
| Population As Of: | 2022 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Population Demonym: | soproni |
| Population Urban: | 98,479 (13th)[2] |
| Demographics Type1: | Population by ethnicity (2011) |
| Demographics1 Footnotes: | [3] |
| Demographics1 Title1: | Hungarians |
| Demographics1 Info1: | 88.% |
| Demographics1 Title2: | Germans |
| Demographics1 Info2: | 5.7% |
| Demographics1 Title3: | Croats |
| Demographics1 Info3: | 0.7% |
| Demographics1 Title4: | Romani |
| Demographics1 Info4: | 0.6% |
| Demographics1 Title5: | Romanians |
| Demographics1 Info5: | 0.2% |
| Demographics1 Title6: | Slovaks |
| Demographics1 Info6: | 0.1% |
| Demographics1 Title7: | Serbs |
| Demographics1 Info7: | 0.1% |
| Demographics1 Title8: | Bulgarians |
| Demographics1 Info8: | 0.1% |
| Demographics1 Title9: | Others |
| Demographics1 Info9: | 0.9% |
| Demographics Type2: | Population by religion (2011) |
| Demographics2 Footnotes: | [4] |
| Demographics2 Title1: | Roman Catholic |
| Demographics2 Info1: | 47.9% |
| Demographics2 Title2: | Greek Catholic |
| Demographics2 Info2: | 1.6% |
| Demographics2 Title3: | Evangelicals |
| Demographics2 Info3: | 5.6% |
| Demographics2 Title4: | Calvinists |
| Demographics2 Info4: | 3% |
| Demographics2 Title5: | Jewish |
| Demographics2 Info5: | 1% |
| Demographics2 Title6: | Non-religious |
| Demographics2 Info6: | 5% |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code |
| Postal Code: | 9400 |
| Area Code Type: | Area code |
| Area Code: | (+36) 99 |
| Coordinates: | 47.6849°N 16.5831°W |
| Blank Name: | Motorways |
| Blank2 Name: | Distance from Budapest |
| Blank2 Info: | 214km (133miles) West |
| Blank1 Name Sec1: | NUTS 3 code |
| Blank1 Info Sec1: | HU221 |
| Blank3 Name Sec2: | MP |
| Blank3 Info Sec2: | Attila Barcza (Fidesz) |
Sopron (in Hungarian pronounced as /ˈʃopron/; German: Ödenburg, pronounced as /de/) is a city in Hungary on the Austrian border, near Lake Neusiedl/Lake Fertő.
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 can be found today.
During the Migration Period, 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 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.
During the Ottoman occupation of Hungary, the Ottoman Turks 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 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.[5] After the compromise of 1867 and until 1918, the city (known with the dual bilingual name of Sopron - Ödenburg)[6] was part of the Habsburg-ruled Kingdom of Hungary.
Following the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, ethnic Germans inhabited parts of four western Hungarian counties: Pozsony (Pressburg in German; Bratislava in Czech/Slovak), Vas (Eisenburg), Sopron (Ödenburg) and Moson (Wieselburg). The German-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, 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", Hungarian: 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.
The city of Sopron and the village of Sopronbánfalva began to stretch towards each other at the beginning of the 20th century, they unified in 1950 and since the areas have merged.[7] Sopron and the village of Balf unified in 1985.
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 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 re-established full trade relations to nearby Austria. Furthermore, after being suppressed during the Cold War, 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 (70km (40miles) away), and from Bratislava, Slovakia (77km (48miles) 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."[8] [9]
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.[10]
The group of ethnic German wine growers in the Sopron area in the Habsburg Monarchy were the so-called Ponzichter.
In 1910, Sopron had 33,931 inhabitants (51% German, 44.3% Hungarian, 4.7% other). Religions: 64.1% Roman Catholic, 27.8% Lutheran, 6.6% Jewish, 1.2% Calvinist, 0.3% other.[11] In 2001, the city had 56,125 inhabitants (92.8% Hungarian, 3.5% German, 3.7% other).[12] Religions: 69% Roman Catholic, 7% Lutheran, 3% Calvinist, 8.1% Atheist, 11.9% no answer, 1% other.[13] [14]
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 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).
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:[15]
| Party | Seats | Current Municipal Assembly | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fidesz-KDNP | 13 | M | ||||||||||||||
| Opposition coalition | 4 | |||||||||||||||
| Dialogue | 1 | |||||||||||||||
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 they won EuroLeague. MFC Sopron was a football team based in Sopron. The successor of the club is Soproni VSE.
See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Hungary. Sopron is twinned with:[16]
Banská Štiavnica, Slovakia
Bolzano, Italy
Eilat, Israel
Eisenstadt, Austria
Kazuno, Japan
Mediaș, Romania
Seinäjoki, Finland
Sparta, Greece