Kőszeg

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**Kőszeg**

Country:	Hungary
County:	Vas
Area:	54.65 km²
Population (2001): - Density:	11,783 215.61/km²
Postal code:	9730
Area code:	94
Coordinates:	47.38191° N 16.55221° E

Kőszeg (German: Güns) is a town in Vas county, Hungary. It is located at around 47°22′60″N, 16°33′0″E. The town is famous for its historical character.

1 History
2 Sights of interest
3 Twin towns
4 External links
- 4.1 Born in Kőszeg

[edit] History

The origins of the only free city in the historical garrison county of Vas (Eisenburg) go back to the third quarter of the 13th Century. It was founded by the Volfer family, a branch of the Héder clan, which had settled in Hungary in 1157. Sometime before 1274 Heinrich II and his son Ivan moved the court of the Köszegi, a breakaway branch of the family, from Güssing to Kőszeg (Güns). For decades, the town was the seat of the Dukes of Köszeg (Güns). Only in 1327 did Charles Robert of Anjou finally break the power of the Kőszegi family in Western Transdanubia and a year later elevated the town to Royal status, in (1328). The town boundaries were fixed during the Anjou dynasty (1347–1381). In 1392 the Royal town became a fiefdom, when the Palatinate Nicolas Garai paid back a bond paid to King Sigismund of Luxembourg by the Ellerbach family from Monyorókerék. The Garai era ended in 1441.

Aerial photography of the Jurisics Castle

In the third wave of the great wars against the Turks in the 16th century, Kőszeg became the major flashpoint of the campaign of 1532. Between the 5th and 30th August, Grand Vizier Ibrahim led 19 major assaults against the town. Under the leadership of the town and fort captain, Miklós Jurisich, a small garrison, repelled an Ottoman force numbering some 80,000 men. After the final unsuccessful attack, the Turkish leadership were forced to decamp due to an uprising by the Janissaries. Accoding to tradition, the last contingent of withdrawing troops were meant to have left the city limits around 11 o'clock. As a memorial to this historic heroism, the church clocks in the town have read 11 o'clock since 1777.

After the Turkish wars, in 1695 the garrison and surrounding areas of Kőszeg fell into the hands of the Esterházy dukes, where it remained until 1931. The town lost its strategic importance after the Rákóczi- Liberation Wars of 1703–1711. Along with Szombathely, Kőszeg was the most important fortress for the kuruc military leadership from 1705–1708, to liberate and hold onto the areas west of the Rába. The Royal Free City enjoyed its longest period of peace in its history during the 18th Century. For the first time in the history of the town, there was an attempt in 1712, to replace the population loss in the town by trying to attract colonists and by founding Schwabendorf (Kőszegfalva).

Kőszeg had already lost its leading role in the garrison county of Vas by the mid 19th Century. Only a few workshops survived the production crisis in the guild system during the Hungarian Reformation of the early 19th Century. The founding of public companies, societies and the first financial institution in the county were the first signs of civic development in the town. Alongside the by now typical society made up of small businesses and small traders, Kőszeg developed during this time into a town of schools, sanatoria and garrisons. In doing so it managed to retain its natural beauty and the beauty of its architecture. Only the bastion gates have been damaged significantly. The structure of the town remains unaltered. Kőszeg was awarded the Hild Prize (Hungarian architecture prize) in 1978 for preserving its architectural heritage.

Since 1990 Kőszeg is again living under a normal administrative system and a market economy. The financially weak town is looking at options for renewal through an injection of capital from outside investors and is seeking support from government agencies and the European Union.

Today Kőszeg is one of the most attractive towns in Hungary (also called Hungary's Jewel Box) and is a tourist destination.