| Official Name: | Uzhhorod | ||||||||||
| Native Name: | Ukrainian: Ужгород | ||||||||||
| Settlement Type: | City | ||||||||||
| Pushpin Map: | Ukraine Zakarpattia Oblast#Ukraine | ||||||||||
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of Uzhhorod | ||||||||||
| Coordinates: | 48.6239°N 22.295°W | ||||||||||
| Subdivision Type: | Country | ||||||||||
| Subdivision Type1: | Oblast | ||||||||||
| Subdivision Name1: | Zakarpattia Oblast | ||||||||||
| Subdivision Type2: | Raion | ||||||||||
| Subdivision Name2: | Uzhhorod Raion | ||||||||||
| Established Title: | Founded | ||||||||||
| Established Date: | 9th century | ||||||||||
| Leader Title: | Mayor | ||||||||||
| Leader Party: | self-nominated[1] | ||||||||||
| Area Total Km2: | 65 | ||||||||||
| Elevation M: | 169 | ||||||||||
| Population Total: | 115449 | ||||||||||
| Population As Of: | 2022 | ||||||||||
| Population Density Km2: | 3662 | ||||||||||
| Timezone: | EET | ||||||||||
| Utc Offset: | +2 | ||||||||||
| Timezone Dst: | EEST | ||||||||||
| Utc Offset Dst: | +3 | ||||||||||
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code | ||||||||||
| Postal Code: | 88000 | ||||||||||
| Area Codes: | +380-312 | ||||||||||
| Blank1 Name: | Sister cities | ||||||||||
| Blank1 Info: | Békéscsaba, Nyíregyháza, Krosno, Trogir, Pula, Corvallis, Darmstadt, Košice | ||||||||||
| Blank2 Name: | Climate | ||||||||||
| Blank2 Info: | Cfb | ||||||||||
| Module: |
| ||||||||||
| Subdivision Type3: | Hromada |
Uzhhorod (Ukrainian: Ужгород, pronounced as /uk/,, in Hungarian pronounced as /ˈuŋɡvaːr/,) is a city and municipality on the Uzh River 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 Uzhhorod Raion (district) within the oblast. Population:
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[2]).[3] [4]
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: English: link=no|Uzhgorod (before 1996); Ужгород|Užhorod, Унґвар|Ungvar (historically); Russian: Ужгород|Užgorod; Belarusian: Ужгарад|Užharad; Yiddish: אונגווער|Ingver, Yiddish: אונגוואַר|Ungvar; Užhorod; Slovak: Užhorod; German: link=no|Ungwar, Ungarisch Burg or Ungstadt; Polish: Użhorod; Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan: Ujgorod.
In the migration period Celts, Sarmatians, Huns, and Avars ruled the area. During the 9th century a fortified castle changed into a fortified early feudal town-settlement. The first mention of the settlement's name is "Hunguar" from AD 1150 in Gesta Hungarorum. According to Gesta Hungarorum, at the time of the Hungarian conquest the fortified castle was under the rule of Laborec, who is most likely a fictional figure created by Anonymus, named after the nearby river Laborec.
Almos's Magyars who had arrived in the region from Kyiv (then known as Kevevara) stormed the Hunguar fortress in 895 AD. Having taken over the castle, Almos appointed his son Árpád as prince of Hunguaria and from Ungvar his warriors were called Hungarians.[5] As this may be viewed as naive folk etymology by a medieval writer, for further information on the ethnonym of the Hungarians see the article Name of Hungary.
In the Kingdom of Hungary, the small town began to extend its borders. King Saint Stephen made it the centre (castrum) of Ung county with a strong military presence to protect the north east border of Hungary. In 1241–1242 the Mongols of Batu Khan burnt the settlement. After, in 1248 the city was granted town privileges by the King Béla IV of Hungary. In the early 14th century, Uzhhorod was involved in the civil wars in the interregnum between Hungarian barons when the dynasty of Árpád died out. Finally Charles I of Hungary from the Anjou dynasty, descendant of the House of Árpád by his mother occupied the throne. The Anjou House also ruled the Kingdom of Naples and the Hungarian king Charles I invited the Drugeths (Italian counts from the Kingdom of Naples) into Hungary and gave the town to them. The Drugeth family became a member of the Hungarian nobility. 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.
During the 16–17th centuries The Kingdom of Hungary fell into three parts. The middle was occupied by the Ottoman Empire, the north west was ruled by the Habsburg dynasty, the eastern part became the Principality of Transylvania, that hold the independent Hungarian statehood. During this period there were many handicraft corporations in Uzhhorod. In this period the city was engaged in the religious and political fight between primarily Hungarian Protestant Transylvania and the German Catholic Austria. Each one wanted to reunite the Kingdom of Hungary under their rule. In 1646 the Union of Ungvár was proclaimed and the Greek-Catholic church was established, in a ceremony held in the Ungvár castle by the Vatican Aegis. In 1707 Ungvár was the residence of Ferenc II Rákóczi, leader of the national liberation war of Hungarians against Habsburgs. From 1780 the city became the capital of the Greek Catholic Eparchy and from 1776 the center of a newly created school district.[6]
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, then known as Csap.
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% Czechs.[7] By religion, 5,481 Roman Catholic, 5,305 Jewish, 4,473 Greek Catholic, 1,368 Calvinist. 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.[8]
The First World War slowed down the tempo of city development. On 10 September 1919, 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, with Malyi Galagov, a new government quarter, being built from scratch.[9]
After the First Vienna Award in 1938, Uzhhorod was given back to Hungary from which it was separated after World War I.
In 1941 the Jewish population reached 9,576. On 19 March 1944, German 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.[10]
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. This followed the assumption of local authority by the People's Committee of Transcarpathian Ukraine based in Uzhhorod and headed by a local Communist.[11] 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 independent Ukraine. Of these, Uzhhorod is the smallest and westernmost.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.[12]
On 15 April 2022, as part of the 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.[13] United States First Lady Jill Biden visited the city on 8 May 2022, which was not announced to the public until after the visit.[14]
Uzhhorod has a humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfb) with cool to cold winters and warm summers. The coldest month is January with an average temperature of -1.7°C while the warmest month is July with an average temperature of 20.9°C. The coldest temperature ever recorded is -28.2°C and the warmest temperature was 38.6°C. Average annual precipitation is 748mm, which is evenly distributed throughout the year though the summer months have higher precipitation. On average, Uzhhorod receives 2023 hours of sunshine per year.
According to the Ukrainian 2001 census, the population of Uzhhorod included:[15]
Distribution of the population by native language according to the 2001 census:[16]
| Language | Number | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ukrainian | 89 624 | 77.55% | |
| Russian | 14 335 | 12.40% | |
| Hungarian | 8 123 | 7.03% | |
| Romani | 1 494 | 1.29% | |
| Other or undecided | 1 992 | 1.73% | |
| Total | 115 568 | 100.00 % |
According to a survey conducted by the International Republican Institute in April–May 2023, 85% of the city's population spoke Ukrainian at home, 9% spoke Russian, and 1% spoke Hungarian.[17]
The city is served by Uzhhorod railway station and has railway connections with Chop and Lviv. It is also served by Uzhhorod International Airport.[18] The airport is situated near the Ukraine Slovakia border.[19]
The territory of the city of Uzhhorod is coterminous with Uzhhorod urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine which was established on 12 June 2020.[20] [21]
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.[22]
In 2020 professional football matches at the highest levels of Ukraine returned to Uzhhorod since the 2020–21 season FC Mynai plays its home matches in the Avanhard Stadium.[23] FC Uzhhorod currently in Ukrainian Second League also plays its matches at Avanhard Stadium.
See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Ukraine.
Uzhhorod is currently twinned with:
Békéscsaba, Hungary Nyíregyháza, Hungary Szombathely, Hungary
Corvallis, Oregon, US
Košice, Slovakia, since 1993[25]
Krosno, Poland, since 2008[26] Jarosław, Poland, since 2002[27]
Česká Lípa, Czech Republic
Satu Mare, Romania[28] Târgu Mureș, Romania