Kőszeg
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Kőszeg | |
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  Kőszeg
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| Coordinates: | |
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| Country |  Hungary |
| County | Vas |
| Area | |
| - Total | 54.65 km² (21.1 sq mi) |
| Population (2001) | |
| - Total | 11,783 |
| - Density | 215.61/km² (558.4/sq mi) |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) |
| - Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) |
| Postal code | 9730 |
| Area code(s) | 94 |
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Kőszeg (German: Güns, Croatian: Kiseg) is a town in Vas county, Hungary. The town is famous for its historical character.
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[edit] History
The origins of the only free royal town 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, who 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 Kőszeg (Güns).
Only in 1327 did Charles Robert of Anjou finally break the power of the Kőszegi family in Western Transdanubia, and a year later in (1328), elevated the town to Royal status. The town boundaries were fixed during the Anjou dynasty (1347–1381). In 1392 the Royal town became a fiefdom, when the Palatinate Nicolas Garai repaid a bond paid to King Sigismund of Luxembourg by the Ellerbach family from Monyorókerék. The Garai era ended in 1441.
[edit] Little War in Hungary
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 in the Siege of Kőszeg. After the final unsuccessful attack, the Turkish leadership were forced to decamp due to an uprising by the Janissaries. According 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 free royal town enjoyed the 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 within 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.
[edit] World War II and the Holocaust
During World War II, the Jews of Kőszeg were among the last to be evacuated to Auschwitz in the summer of 1944.[1] Later that year Nazis established a slave labor camp at Kőszeg where 3,000 Jews died of starvation.[1] With the impending arrival of the Red Army in 1945, the camp was liquidated with the camp's 2,000 surviving enduring a "death march" for several weeks over the Alps to Ebensee.[1]
[edit] After Communism
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.
Kőszeg has managed to retain its natural charm and the beauty of its architecture. Only the bastion gates have been damaged significantly. The structure of the town remains unaltered.
Today Kőszeg is one of the most attractive towns in Hungary (also called Hungary's Jewel Box) and is a tourist destination. Kőszeg was awarded the Hild Prize (Hungarian architecture prize) in 1978 for preserving its architectural heritage.
[edit] Sights of interest
- Jurisics Castle and Castle Museum
- Town centre with its medieval atmosphere
- Sacred Heart Church
- Steierhäuser
- Pharmacy Museum
- Hills around Kőszeg
- the Geschriebenstein (Írottkő)
- Siebenbründel (Hétforrás)
- The Old House (Óház)
[edit] Twin towns
The town is twinned with Vaihingen an der Enz in Baden-Württemberg, Mödling in Austria, Senj in Croatia, Nitrianske Hrnčiarovce (Nyitragerencsér) in Slovakia. Kőszeg is a member of Douzelage.
[edit] People born in Kőszeg
- Andreas Hadik, nobleman, military leader
- József Fabchich, translator
- Imre Festetics, geneticist
- Samuel von Giffing (or Giefing), Distinguished Austrian-Hungarian General-major. *3 August 1758,Güns, †18 October, 1813, Leipzig. Commander of "Brigade Giffing"
- Gyula Lóránt, football player and manager. One of the Mighty Magyars
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Gilbert, Martin (October 18, 2002). The Routledge Atlas of the Holocaust, 3 edition. Routledge;, page 220. ISBN 0415281466.
