SOPRON (Ger. Oedenburg; Med.

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• LAT

Lat. Sopronium)  , a town of Hungary, capital of the county of the same name, 140 M . W. of Budapest by rail . Pop . (1900), 30,628, about 6o % Germans . It lies in an extensive valley enclosed on all sides by the outskirts of the Rosalien mountains, a group belonging to the eastern outliers of the Alps . In the principal square are the Benedictine church, built at the end of the 13th century and restored in the 15th century, and the town hall, completed in 1894 . The Dominican church, built in 1674; the church of St Michael, in the Gothic style, completed in 1484, the most interesting church in the town; and the old tower, 200 ft. high, are all worth notice . Sopron has a thriving industry in sugar, soap, vinegar, bell-founding and machinery, and it carries on an active trade in cereals, fruit and wine . Large cattle markets are also held here . Within the county a good quality of wine is produced, especially near the little town of Ruszt (pop . 16o8) and at the village of Ball (Ger., Wolfs) on the shores of the Neusiedler lake . In the neighbourhood of Sopron is the Brennberg, with extensive coal-mines .

Sopron was a

Roman colony under the name of Scarabantia . It was afterwards occupied by German settlers and became a royal free town in the lath century . Matthias Corvinus granted the town special privileges in 1464 . An important Diet of Hungarian Protestants took place here in 1681 . About 12 m. north, at the foot of the Leitha mountains, lies the town of Kismarton (Ger . Eisenstadt; pop., 2951), which contains a magnificent castle of the Esterhazy family, built in 1683 and enlarged in 1805 . About to m. north-west lies Nagymarton (Ger . Mattersdorf ; pop., 3789) ; and not far from it, on the frontier of Austria, the well-preserved castle of Forchtenstein, the cradle of the Esterhazy family . About 12 m. east, not far from the Neusiedler lake, lies Esterhaza, with a beautiful castle in the French Renaissance style, belonging to Count Esterhazy . About 9 m. south-east lies the village of Nagyczenk (Ger . Zinkendorff), with the castle of the Szechenyi family .