The bilingual Sopron

Sopron, also known as Sopron-Odenburg, is a bilingual city located towards the north western area of Hungary, within the region of Western Transdanubia. This city has Hungarian and German as official languages and is counts with a very peculiar environment and traditions due to the combination of cultures it has had throughout its history, being this way a very appealing destination which visitors should not miss during a vacation in Hungary.

The city of Sopron has a population of about 56,500 inhabitants and an area of approximately 170.00 km2, in such a way that its density is of around 333.5 inhabitants per km2. According to historians and archaeologists, the area where Sopron nowadays is located has been inhabited since ancient times. This way, tourists who are interested in disciplines such as archaeology, anthropology and history should not miss meeting this spot while visiting this region of Hungary.

During the times of the Romans, this city (along with most of the western region of Hungary) was a province of such Empire. During that époque, the city became known as Scarbantia and it remained inhabited by Romans until what is known as the Migration Period. After the Migration Period, a group of Hungarians arrived to this city, which at that moment was almost completely in ruins. The new settlers re constructed the town and built several interesting constructions, as well as built a castle and rebuilt the old Roman city walls.

After the Hungarian castle was completed and named Soprom, the city received the same name, fact that became official around the year 1150. During the 13th century, the King Ladislaus IV visited this city and gave it the rank of Free Royal Town, fact that caused it to become very popular in the region and the rest of Hungary.

Nowadays, tourists can discover the interesting past of Sopron by simply walking around and visiting its old centre. The old centre or old town of Sopron has many antique constructions of different époques, reflecting the several different historical moments it has gone through its long life. In this part of the city, visitors would find, for example, Baroque constructions, Roman buildings, and other elements and ornaments from several other styles and époques as well.

Map of Sopron in Hungary