Sopron (German: Ödenburg), only about 65km (40mi.) south of Vienna and 8km (5mi.) from the Austrian border, between the eastern foothills of the Alps and Fertotó (German: Neusiedler See), is a popular destination for excursions and recreation, not only because of its attractive situation but also because of its unusual townscape. Hardly any other Hungarian town has such well preserved medieval and Baroque buildings - there are 115 officially listed monuments and 240 protected buildings, in 1972 it was awarded the European prize for protection of historical monuments.
Owing to its location on the Bernstein route, connecting the Baltic and Italy, Sopron was an important center of trade before the Romans conquered Pannonia. In the 2nd C BC the Roman settlement Scarbantia was an important town with a capitol, forum and town walls; it became the see of a bishop in the 4th C. The German name "Ödenburg" stems from the period of mass migration, when the Avars built fortifications on the ruins of the Roman town. A chronicle from the 12th C bears the place name Suprun. The first German settlers arrived at this time and their descendants are well represented in Sopron today. In 1277 the town received the royal charter; between 1297-1339 the walls were built which survived the Turkish period and can still be seen in part today. Following the destruction caused by the fire in 1676 the town was rebuilt in Baroque style. After the Trianon peace treaty in 1921 the citizens of Sopron voted to remain in Hungary (as opposed to the Burgenland region which was part of Hungary). The Budapest Horthy government rewarded Sopron with the title "urbs fidelissima" ("most loyal town"). Sopron's industry dates back to the end of the 18th/beginning of the 19th C with a coal mine and sugar refinery; nowadays the main industries are light (carpet and clothing factories, wood processing).
All the buildings in the Old Town within the confines of the medieval town wall, built on the Roman ruins, are listed historical monuments. The majority are from the early Middle Ages but display features from other periods, such as Romanesque windows, Gothic niches, Renaissance loggias and Baroque or Classical decoration.
On the north side of the Orsolya tér is the Arcaded House (Lábasház), built around 1750; the arcades are thought to have been walled in the mid-19th C and only came to light when the damage from the Second World War was cleared. Shops can be found on the ground floor and on the upper floor an exhibition on industrial history.
On the other side of the Ikva towers the 14th/15th C Church of the Holy Ghost which in about 1780 received a Baroque façade and decor. The paintings in the main and side altar and the frescos were done by Stephan Dorffmeister the Elder in 1782.
Outside the ringed wall to the south, stands the Baroque church dedicated to St Judas Thaddaeus, built in 1719-25 to a design by Lorenz Eysenkölbl. The façade is flanked by two towers completed in 1775 and decorated with figures of saints. The altar painting of St Dominicus is by the Sopron artist Stephan Schaller (1708-79).
The house, built in the 15th C, after some rebuilding in 1674, came into the possession of Princess Eggenberg, who allowed Protestant services to be held here after St George's Church had fallen into the hands of the Jesuits. Sermons were held in the arcaded courtyard from the stone pulpit which bears the coat of arms of the Eggenbergs, a royal family from Radkersburg in Styria; above the main doorway is the Brandenburg coat of arms, to whom the Eggenbergs were related.
Adjoining the church is the evangelical vicarage. The upper floor to this medieval palace and the façade were added around 1770. Ionic columns adorn the front of the house and an enclosed oriel window from the 17th C projects over the entrance. The evangelical collection of the town of Sopron is housed in the palace.
On the site of a large bastion southwest of the Old Town (Május I tér) a historic villa was built in 1872, which has housed the municipal museum since 1913. Alongside local and ethnographical collections are paintings by important Baroque artists such as Maulbertsch, Troger and Altomonte. Concerts and town events take place in the great hall. In the park of the so-called Baker's Cross from 1484 are 17th/ 18th C tombstones from the evangelical cemetery and Baroque statues.
The medieval General's House or Lackner House (near the Storno House), was rebuilt in 1620 by the mayor Christoph Lackner. In the 18th and 19th C the town commander lived here which explains the other name. The Classical balcony dates from 1830.
The house is a good example of early 18th C rural Baroque; it gets its name from the two Moors which flank the doorway. They are the work, together with the figures and turned columns, of the builder Ignaz Leitner, a stonemason who based his work on old pattern books.
To the southwest of the town is the residential and recreational area of the town reaching up the slopes of the Sopron mountains, known as the Lovérek. There are numerous marked footpaths for walkers. From the Károly-magaslat, 398m (1306ft), a 23m (75ft) high viewing tower provides a marvelous panorama of the surrounding area with Ferto tó (Neusiedler See) and the foothills of the Alps.
In front of the northern entrance to the Old Town the Mary Column commemorates the Church of Our Lady which was pulled down in 1632 (out of fear that the Turks could use it as a gun turret). Designed by Andreas Altomonte work on the column was carried out by the Viennese sculptor Jakob Christoph Schletterer in 1745.
The fire tower, the former defense tower, is visible above the stepped rows of houses.
The original Late Gothic house was converted to a Baroque palace by Paul Eszterházy in 1752; Empress Maria Theresia stayed here in 1772 during her visit to Sopron. On either side of the splendid doorway (above which are the Eszterházy coat of arms and a copy of the Gracious Madonna from Mariazell) on the upper floor are wide enclosed oriel windows. The inner courtyard contains 17th C arcades. The palace houses a museum on the history of coal-mining in Sopron and Hungary from 1245.
The Szent Jakab kápolna near St Michael's Church, an Early Gothic 13th C building, was a sepulchral chapel. It has an octagonal outline and three sides are enclosed by apses; above the doorway arch is a Romanesque relief (dragon with the tree of life). The interior wall paintings are by Franz Storno.
The Várkerület, the ring road around the Old Town, follows the course of the oval, triple medieval town wall, which for the main part was constructed on the Roman foundations. Between St George's Church and Caesar House are impressive parts of the Great Round Tower including the ruins of a Roman wall several meters thick. Further south both layers of the wall are exposed which together tower 8.5m (28ft) high.
North of the Old Town, on the road to Vienna, is the atmospheric Viennese suburb and the craftsmen's quarter since the Middle Ages. Their houses line the narrow Ikvahíd utca, the bridge over the Ikva brook. The second (east) bridge is of medieval origin.
The colorful private collection of Gusztáv Zettl (eastern continuation of the Szentélek) was assembled at the turn of the century and includes among its treasures weapons, finds from tombs, Roman containers, jewelry, porcelain, valuable paintings by Paolo Veronese and Dorffmeister as well as etchings by Dürer and Rembrandt.
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Fabricius House
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Sopron
