Sopron

Sopron stands near the western boundary of the Hungarian kingdom, on the site of the Roman town of Scarbantia. Its medieval walls enclosed a community of merchants and craftsmen whose connections reached toward Austria as well as the Hungarian interior. King Ladislaus IV rewarded the town with royal privileges in 1277.

Sopron remained an important meeting place in the wars and religious disputes of early modern Hungary. A great fire in 1676 destroyed much of the medieval town, and the houses rebuilt afterward gave its centre a new Baroque appearance. In 1681 the Hungarian Diet met here, bringing the kingdom's estates together in the western border town. The town tower, raised after the fire, came to overlook the streets and squares of the rebuilt city.