Festive Weeks in Sopron

Annually June-July

Starting in the middle of June, Festive Weeks in Sopron offers special artistic productions to the citizens other town and to the large numbers of foreign and Hungarian visitors arriving in the town. A traditional part of the festival is the week-long Early Music Days, which offers real treats of baroque music, a dance course, with distinguished performers appearing every day. The squares and renaissance and baroque courtyards of the historic town centre are home to repertory theatre performances, children’s activities, and classical, light music and jazz concerts. The list of events is further enriched by folk group performances, a folk art fair, and music performances on the town’s squares. Close to Sopron is Fertőrákos, whose huge former quarry has been turned into a cave theatre famous for its high-quality music performances, and in particular for its opera premieres.

THE MOST LOYAL CITY

All year round, there are more Hungarian and foreign visitors to the centre of Sopron, which is close to the Austrian border, as there are local residents. Almost all the buildings in the town centre are listed. The Storno house, the Kecske (Goat) church, the Fabricius house and the fire-tower are all prime pieces of architecture. The richly-decorated Holy Trinity statue, with three steps, is a fine example of baroque sculpture. The two medieval Gothic synagogues in New Street - which is actually one other oldest streets in the town - are unique in Europe.

The city of Sopron is said to be the most "loyal city" of Hungary`s. After the Trianon treaty of 1920, when Hungary lost two-thirds of its territory, the citizens of Sopron were allowed to hold a referendum on whether to stay with "little" Hungary or join the former part of Hungary called the Burgenland that as that was given to Austria.

On December 14, 1922 the people cast their votes and the town stayed with Hungary. It was then the title Civitas Fidelissima, meaning the most loyal town was awarded to Sopron.

Since then December 14 has become the town`s official holiday and will be celebrated for the 80th time next year.

However, the loyalty cost Sopron a lot. A whole new profile had to be found for the future of the city as it had lost its earlier business and social environment, while being squeezed into one of the corners of the country. Locals saw that their economy would not be what it used to be and decided to invest into making the city a tourism center. In 1925 a special taskforce was already advertising the city with a new slogan "Hívja, várja Sopron" (come and stay in Sopron) in cooperation with local travel agencies.

After the Second World War Sopron was again given different treatment. This time only those with a seperate visiting permit were allowed to visit the border city. Nevertheless the marketing was so effective that many people flocked to spend at least a weekend there. Since the launch of the tourism program, it has always been fashionable to visit Sopron. Since prices are not as competitive as they used to be, especially for shopping tourism, they decided to take a new approach. This time they are concentrating on conference and casino tourism. The city`s 11 hotels with their 2500 beds easily cater for the new conference center and casino, developed from a former cultural center that had been relocated elsewhere. This new center has three conference halls, one with 250 seats, another with 450 seats and the one currently under construction will be able to seat 750 guests.

The local municipality and entrepreneurs had also invested a lot of time, energy and money in developing cultural tourism. The city has three main cultural events: the Spring Fest, the Sopron Fest (in mid-summer) and the Grape Harvest Fest (in the fall). They want to the let the visitors learn more about the fine classical music and the wines that the town has to offer.

The Opera Gala is held inside a peculiar former stone quarry at Ferőrákos, north-east of the city near Lake Fertő (also known as the Neusiedler See). Foreigners, mostly from neighboring Austria, have always visited Sopron due to the favorable exchange rates and good shopping. But with the stabilization of the Forint, the number of shopping tourists has been falling off since 1995. Visitors would cross the border, visit a dentist and other services, do some shopping, maybe hold a wedding, or just eat, drink and tarry a while at the variety of cultural programs. Dental prices in Sopron are still lower than Western prices, while the quality is world class. The town has more than 300 dentists of which about 200 don`t have Hungarian patients.

The town still has some industry. Forestry is one of the main ones: Sopron has the only forestry university in Hungary. The lumber company Sweedwood, an affiliate of Sweden`s furniture manufacturing giant IKEA, was set up in Sopron. The auto component supplier Hirsler is also in the city. The city`s biggest employer is the railway company Győr-Sopron-Ebenfurt Vasút Rt. (GYESEV), a 125-year-old Hungarian-Austrian joint venture operating the line between the country`s most north-western par and Ebenfurt in Austria. They wish to expand southwards to Szombathely. Other major companies include brewery Soproni Sörgyár, a subsidiary of Austria`s Brau Unio AG and carpet manufacturer Soproni Szőnyeg, a member of the Győr-based Graboplast group. With its Russian and Eastern markets lost, the carpet factory is having to compete against tought Belgian competition on the Western markets.

Sopron`s municipality was now negotiating with an Indian information technology group which planned to move to the local industrial park funded from EU PHARE money. The Tata Consultancy Service (TCS), a computer technology concern from India, has decided to set up its first European software reserarch and development center in Hungary to increase its presence in the European Union.

Sopron is also working to develop its sewage and traffic system. Other municipal issues include a new apartment development program, part of the Government`s 10-year Széchenyi Plan. Shopping wise, Sopron has a Sopron Plaza mall and the Tesco hypermarket, but more development in this field is unlikely. This is because they wish to protect the small-and medium-sized retailers which give Sopron the quaint atmosphere and harmony that visitors have come to expect from the country`s most loyal city.