Burgenland is a state of Austria. It's the most eastern part of the
country, bordering on Hungary and Slovakia. The state is divided into 3
regions (Nordburgenland, Mittelburgenland and Südburgenland and seven
boroughs. It covers 3,965 square kilometers and has about 300,000
inhabitants. The youngest federal state of Austria was part of the
Kingdom of Hungary until 1921 and only came to Austria as a result of
the Trianon Peace Treaty. The capital is Eisenstadt, after the
originally planned capital of the area - Ödenburg (Sopron) - remained
with Hungary in 1921 after a referendum.
Today's Burgenland was
part of the Kingdom of Hungary until 1918. After the First World War,
the so-called "German West Hungary" - that was the part of Hungary in
which a significant German-speaking population lived - was ceded to
Austria in the course of the Trianon peace negotiations between the
Allies and Hungary. In the Greater Ödenburg (Sopron) region, a
referendum was held on nationality, which, however, ended in favor of
Hungary, despite the clear German-speaking majority of the population.
The newly founded federal state, which finally joined the Republic of
Austria in 1921, lost its designated capital and only urban center. The
small town of Eisenstadt, which had been relatively insignificant until
then, became the capital.
The name "Burgenland" is misleading,
because although there have always been many fortifications in
Burgenland as a border area to Southeast Europe, there are no more than
anywhere else in Austria. Rather, the name is derived from the final
syllables of the western Hungarian counties of Pressburg (today
Bratislava), Wieselburg (today Mosonmagyaróvár), Ödenburg (today Sopron)
and Eisenburg (today Vasvár). These four counties were to form the heart
of the country. However, none of these four cities and their environs
was ultimately assigned to Burgenland.
Until 1921, however, the
accession of Burgenland to Austria was questionable, because large
groups of Croats live both in today's Burgenland and in neighboring
western Hungary, the governments of the newly founded Czecho-Slovakia
and Yugoslavia tried to influence the peace negotiations with Austria
and Hungary to take, and to claim this area for themselves. The
background comes from the idea of Pan-Slavism, according to which the
South and West Slavic states would have bordered directly on each other.
Burgenland has always been considered the poorhouse of Austria
because it was largely rural. There was hardly any industry and the
transport infrastructure was geared more to Hungary than to Austria.
This economic structural weakness was also reinforced by the region's
peripheral location directly on the Iron Curtain, which made economic,
cultural and social relations with the Warsaw Pact neighbors almost
impossible.
But after the political events of 1989, in which
Burgenland also played a key historical role with the pan-European
picnic and border storming of the GDR citizens, the region was suddenly
no longer at the end of the world, but right in the middle of Europe.
Burgenland was also able to benefit massively from Austria's accession
to the EU in 1995 thanks to the target area 1 funding, which is why the
state can no longer be classified as backward or structurally weak.
Burgenland is divided into three large regions and includes seven
districts and two statutory cities.
Northern Burgenland with the
Neusiedler See-Seewinkel region and the districts of Neusiedl am See
(ND), Eisenstadt-Umwelt (EU) and Mattersburg (MA) and the statutory
cities of Eisenstadt (E) and Rust (E)
Central Burgenland with the
district of Oberpullendorf (OP)
Southern Burgenland with the
districts of Oberwart (OW), Güssing (GS) and Jennersdorf (JE)
Eisenstadt
Güssing
Jennersdorf
Neusiedl am See
Rust
Mattersburg
Oberpullendorf
Oberwart
Raiding
Burg Lockenhaus
Burg Schlaining
Bernstein Castle
Forchtenstein Castle
Burgruine Landsee
In northern Burgenland, the Neusiedler See region is particularly worth seeing. Lake Neusiedl is Europe's largest steppe lake. The national park is Austria's only steppe national park. In southern Burgenland, the colorful landscape with its hills and vineyards fascinates.
German is predominantly spoken in Burgenland. In Burgenland,
however, dialects are spoken everywhere, the so-called
"Hianzerisch" dialect, which shows very large differences to
the standard German language. It's certainly interesting to
chat with locals and ask them to teach you a few phrases of
their so-called "dialect".
Burgenland-Croatian is a
minority language that is particularly widespread in
northern and central Burgenland (districts of Neusiedl,
Eisenstadt area, Mattersburg and Oberpullendorf) and differs
slightly from standard Croatian. Since the 1980s, the
cultural self-confidence of the Burgenland-Croats has been
on the rise again, and numerous events have been held. A
total of around 50,000 people (that is one sixth of the
population) in Burgenland are members of the
Burgenland-Croatian ethnic group.
Hungarians live
mainly in individual places in the Warth (district of
Oberwart) and in the district of Oberpullendorf. Slovenes
live in some towns in the south of Burgenland (Jennersdorf
district). Romany people also live in many places in
Burgenland, especially in Oberwart.
In the last 10
years, a moderate influx of Slovaks began in northern
Burgenland (including Kittsee, Pama, Edelstal), fleeing the
horrendous housing prices in Bratislava to neighboring
Austria.
By plane: In Burgenland itself there is no airport with scheduled
flights.
Northern Burgenland is easily accessible from Vienna and
Bratislava airports, and southern Burgenland from Graz airport. The
airports Sarmellék in Hungary and Maribor in Slovenia also offer
flights. If you think a little bigger, depending on flight prices, the
airports of Budapest or Zagreb could also be an option for getting to
Burgenland.
By train: Northern Burgenland is mostly easy to reach
by train. Although the Bruck an der Leitha train station is named after
the Lower Austrian town, it is only a few meters away on Burgenland soil
in the municipality of Bruckneudorf. All Ostbahn REX trains running from
Vienna (main station) to Győr or Bratislava Petržalka stop there. The
S60 S-Bahn line runs from Wiener Neustadt via Vienna to Bruck an der
Leitha, stopping at all stations. There are also regional trains from
Vienna via the Seewinkel to Fertőszentmiklos, Wulkaprodersdorf (via
Eisenstadt and Neusiedl) and Deutschkreutz (via Neufeld an der Leitha,
Wulkaprodersdorf, Sopron). Trains from Wiener Neustadt to Sopron also
stop in Mattersburg. In southern Burgenland, the route of the Styrian
Eastern Railway (Graz-Körmend) runs through Jennersdorf.
If you
are traveling by train, it is advisable to drive to places in the
neighboring regions and continue your journey from there with regional
buses. Gateway cities are Wiener Neustadt, Hartberg, Fürstenfeld,
Feldbach, Murska Sobota, Szentgotthard, Körmend, Szombathely, Sopron,
Hegyeshalom or Bratislava.
By bus: Especially from Vienna, thanks
to the many daily and weekly commuters, there are numerous bus lines
that go directly to many places in southern Burgenland. Otherwise there
are good regional bus connections from the places mentioned above.
By road: From Vienna you can reach the northern part of Burgenland
via the A 4 (eastern motorway) or the A 3 (southeastern motorway), the
southern part via the A 2 (southern motorway) and then via federal road
connections. Important international routes that lead through Burgenland
are: E 58 (Vienna-Bratislava), E 59 (Vienna-Graz) E 60
(Vienna-Budapest), E 66 (Graz-Szekesfehervar) as well as the nationally
important routes Vienna-Sopron- Balaton and Vienna-Oberwart-Szombathely.
Ever since the neighboring countries to the east joined the Schengen
area, more and more small border crossings have been opened, many of
which are subject to truck driving bans.
The country has a dense and well-developed road network. In the
north, the country is criss-crossed by some expressways and motorways,
all federal and state roads are asphalted and in good condition. When
planning a route by car or bicycle between the northern and southern
parts of the country, one should not ignore a transit through Hungary.
On some routes, this can be significantly shorter and faster than
staying within Austria (e.g. Eisenstadt-Deutschkreutz via Sopron or
Seewinkel-Südburgenland via Szombathely).
There is notable rail
traffic within Burgenland only in the north with the ÖBB, which operates
the Wulkaprodersdorf-Eisenstadt-Neusiedl and Neusiedl-Pamhagen-Fertöd
railway lines in addition to the Vienna-Sopron-Deutschkreutz and
Sopron-Mattersburg-Wiener Neustadt railway lines. There are also
connections in the Neusiedl am See district between Bruck an der Leitha
and Neusiedl am See, Nickelsdorf and Kittsee, as well as beyond (Vienna,
Bratislava, Győr).
Regional buses run within Burgenland as well
as in the nearby neighboring regional centers. Buses usually run hourly
on weekdays and irregularly on weekends and public holidays. However,
the stops are extensively signposted or equipped with monitor displays,
so that the current timetables are always available.
The
Burgenland is also ideal as a cycling country thanks to the few
mountains. Numerous regional and long-distance hiking trails are
signposted and suitable for everyone.
The list is roughly from north to south and is not intended to
represent a judgement:
In Kittsee near the Slovakian border is the
Old Castle Kittsee, which originally dates back to the 12th century. It
was destroyed in a fire and rebuilt in the 14th century and has changed
little since then. In the village there is also a baroque new chateau,
the Batthyány chateau.
The Neusiedler See-Seewinkel National Park
(crossing the border with Hungary, Fertõ-Hanság Nemzeti Park) is the
only steppe national park in Central Europe and, with its wide reed
belt, salt marshes and periodically wet meadows, offers excellent
conditions for birds and other animals that are otherwise hardly native
to Central Europe. In addition, the large bathing resorts on the lake
are also popular centers for water sports (swimming, sailing,
windsurfing and much more); in winter, in some years, you can even skate
or ice-sail on the frozen lake.
The Basilica of the Nativity of the
Virgin Mary in Frauenkirchen is a baroque pilgrimage church well worth
seeing with mighty dimensions for this small town.
City of
Eisenstadt: The state capital is home to two of the state's most
important cultural monuments, the baroque Haydn House and the baroque
Esterházy Palace.
Sankt Margarethen: near this town on the road from
Eisenstadt to Rust is the Roman quarry, in which sculptures are
exhibited today and open-air performances of operas and classical
concerts take place. Next to it is the Fairytale Park, a large theme
park for children. South of the village is the site of the Pan-European
Picnic. In August 1989, several thousand GDR citizens gathered near
Sopron and then spontaneously broke through the no longer secured border
to get to West Germany; only a few weeks later the Berlin Wall was to
fall. At the site of the Pan-European Picnic, directly at the state
border but only a few meters into Hungarian territory, there is now a
memorial and a small exhibition on this event.
Rust: Known as the
town of storks and viticulture, the smallest statutory town in Austria
right on the shore of Lake Neusiedl is also known for its listed old
town from the 16th-19th centuries. Century. The neighboring community of
Mörbisch to the south also has numerous historical courtyard rows with
farm buildings.
Forchtenstein Castle is a mighty fortress building,
the core of which dates back to the 14th century and was owned by the
princely Esterházy family from the 17th century. Today the castle houses
one of the largest private museums in Austria.
Lackenbach Castle is
located in the village of the same name in the district of
Oberpullendorf. The center of the Renaissance building from the 16th
century is the arcaded courtyard surrounded by bastions. The landscaping
of the castle park with avenues and moats is also worth seeing. But the
village is also the location of one of the saddest chapters in the
history of Burgenland. From 1940 to 1945, the "Gypsy detention camp
Lackenbach" was located in Lackenbach, in which mainly members of the
Roma ethnic group were imprisoned by the National Socialists and were
forced to do forced labour. A few thousand people died as a result of
murder, deportation to other camps, overwork or exhaustion. Today there
is a memorial stone on the site of the concentration camp.
The
birthplace of Franz Liszt is located in the village of Raiding
(Oberpullendorf district) and is now a museum. The modern Franz Liszt
cultural center with a concert hall is also located in the village.
Bernstein: The mighty Bernstein Castle dates back to the 12th century
and was later given a baroque style. The Amber Rock Museum Potsch at
Hauptplatz 5 documents the mining and processing of precious serpentine
in the area around the city in the past and present.
Lockenhaus:
castle (13th century) and parish church (17th century). Between
Lockenhaus and Rechnitz is the cross-border nature park
Gewrittenstein-Írottkő with extensive hiking opportunities and a lookout
tower, which is exactly half in Austria and half in Hungary and allows
great distant views of both countries.
City of Rechnitz: The main
square is a well-preserved baroque ensemble. Outside the village there
is a memorial for several dozen Jews who were murdered in the vicinity
of the village and who passed here in 1945 on the death marches in
thousands from Hungary to Western Europe.
Güssing Castle,
picturesquely situated on an extinct volcano above Güssing, now houses
the oldest fortification in Burgenland, the Batthyány Museum with
several collections (Castle Museum, Princely Collection, cast iron
collection, history of the castle and rulers, collection of pewter
figures).
In the Geresdorf Ensemble open-air museum near Güssing,
more than 30 historic residential and farm buildings from southern
Burgenland have been set up as a village ensemble. They house a variety
of farmer's utensils and tools. The information center also includes a
tavern.
All kinds of water sports can be practiced on Lake Neusiedl. The surf
spot Podersdorf am See, where the Surf World Cup takes place every year,
is particularly popular here. There are surfing and kite schools in
Breitenbrunn, Pordersdorf and Neusiedl am See.
But the Neufelder
See (in Neufeld an der Leitha) is also ideal for swimming. The flooded
former coal mine is also a Mecca for divers. Numerous other beautiful
bathing ponds can be found throughout the state. The Ritzing lake
(Oberpullendorf district) is considered one of the most beautiful in
Austria.
Centers for wellness tourism have been created at great
expense in recent years in central and southern Burgenland. In Bad
Tatzmannsdorf, Stegersbach and Lutzmannsburg, thermal baths with every
comfort have been created.
Beverages
Virtually the entire Burgenland is a wine-growing
region. After the great wine scandal in the 1980s, winegrowers began to
focus more on quality, and today Burgenland wines - white and red - can
definitely keep up with the world's best. A particular specialty is
Storm, which you can only get between August and November. This is not
yet fully fermented, young wine (German: "Federweißer"). Storm of a sour
wine (e.g. Uhudler) in combination with freshly roasted sweet chestnuts
is particularly recommended. You can also taste and buy the wines of the
region in several regional wine shops (e.g. Deutschkreutz, Horitschon,
Gols), but you can also do tastings and purchases directly from the
farm, or simply the house wine or seasonally also Most and Sturm at
Buschenschanken and Heurigen along with a Brettljause.
From
Burgenland come u.A. the mineral waters Römerquelle (Edelsthal), Juvina
(Deutschkreutz) and Güssinger (Güssing) known throughout Austria
Food
Goose soup Burgenland style, goose soup with crumb dumplings
Liver roulade Burgenland style
Although Burgenland is largely rural, you will find a quite
remarkable, small but fine, rock music scene. There are always rock
concerts by local bands. Good addresses for alternative events are, for
example, the KuGa in Großwarasdorf or the Cselleymühle in Oslip.
Nova
Rock, a large, open-air rock music festival lasting several days, takes
place in Nickelsdorf every year in mid-June. Headliners are mostly big
calibers like Metallica or Green Day.
You should also keep an eye out
for local fairs and fire brigade festivals.
The many wine taverns
that offer regional delicacies and homemade wines are particularly
popular with young and old. In summer, Tamburizza evenings often take
place in these locations, especially in northern Burgenland. The tambura
is an instrument from Croatian folk music.
Burgenlanders are generally known to be hospitable and sociable. When entering a shop or restaurant, you are usually greeted with a hearty "Grüß Gott!" welcomed that should be reciprocated. At Heurigen, in particular, it is easy to be approached by locals who are interested in where the tourists come from and tell them about their region.
There is little to fear in terms of crime in Burgenland as long as
the usual safety precautions are observed. Since the border controls
with neighboring countries were abolished, many locals have complained
about a massive increase in crime, especially property crimes such as
burglaries or car thefts. However, this perceived increase has not yet
been statistically confirmed; on the contrary, crime has actually
decreased slightly since 2007.
The emergency numbers are:
Fire
Department: 122
Police: 133
Rescue: 144
European emergency
number: 112
Burgenland has an area of 3,965.20 km² and shares a 397 km long
national border mostly with Hungary, but also with Slovenia and Slovakia
to a small extent. Almost 40,000 hectares of Burgenland (almost 10% of
the total area) belong to the Esterhazy Foundation; making it the
largest private landowner in Burgenland and one of the largest in
Austria.
The highest elevation in Burgenland is the 884 m high
Gewrittenstein (Írott-kő), through the summit of which the state border
runs. The lowest point is the Hedwighof in the municipality of Apetlon
at 114 m, which is also the lowest point in all of Austria. The deepest
community is Illmitz at 116 m.
Depending on the definition, Lake
Neusiedl, which is characteristic of North Burgenland, is the largest or
second-largest lake in Austria (after Lake Constance).
There are
many mineral and thermal springs in Burgenland.
The geographic
center of Burgenland (coordinates: ♁47° 28′ 41.2″ N, 16° 34′ 17.8″ E) is
in Unterpullendorf (municipality of Frankenau-Unterpullendorf) and was
identified by Burgenland geographers with the “Center Stone “ (Basalt
stone from the Pauliberg). In the south, Riedel are characteristic of
the landscape.
In 2021 the border between Burgenland and Styria
was changed in the Burgauberg-Neudauberg and Neudau area. This border
shift was triggered by flood protection and the associated regulation of
the Lafnitz. Burgenland grew by 6000 square meters at the expense of
Styria.
In terms of landscape, Burgenland is divided into three regions, with
central Burgenland sometimes being assigned to southern Burgenland:
northern Burgenland, central Burgenland and southern Burgenland.
North Burgenland
In terms of landscape, northern Burgenland north of
the Sopron Mountains belongs largely to the Pannonian Plain and includes
the free cities of Eisenstadt and Rust as well as the districts of
Eisenstadt-Umwelt, Mattersburg and Neusiedl am See. Here is Lake
Neusiedl, a steppe lake surrounded by a wide reed belt, the "sea of the
Viennese". In its vicinity, the Lange Lacke nature reserve offers a
refuge for rare bird species. In 1992, the Neusiedler See-Seewinkel
National Park was established in this area, which continues across
borders in the Hungarian Fertő-Hanság National Park.
Central
Burgenland
Central Burgenland, consisting of the district of
Oberpullendorf, is hilly and is separated in the south by the Günser
Mountains, in which the 884 meter high Gewrittenstein is located, from
southern Burgenland, which is also hilly. The loamy soil is
characteristic of Central Burgenland. In between are some hills of
basalt, which are part of the extinct Transdanubian volcanic region. The
entire area is drained by the Rabnitz, which flows eastwards to the
Danube.
Southern Burgenland
Southern Burgenland consists of
the districts of Güssing, Jennersdorf and Oberwart. The hilly terrain
falls away from the East Styrian hill country and the Günser mountains
towards the south-east. The highest elevations in this part south of the
Günser Mountains are just over 400 meters above sea level. The south is
shaped by the Raab River and its many tributaries.
bodies of
water
Almost the entire area of Burgenland drains via the Raab into
the Danube. While the Neusiedler See is tributary via the Einserkanal,
in southern Burgenland the Pinka and the Raab determine the waters
themselves. In the extreme north, the Leitha forms the historical border
river to Lower Austria. The Wulka rises in the Rosaliengebirge and flows
into Lake Neusiedl. The Zöbern is a left tributary of the Güns and flows
into it in the Burgenland market town of Lockenhaus. The Tauchbach or
Tauchen (Hungarian: Tava) is an approximately 40 km long tributary that
flows into the Pinka on the left.
The most important lakes, after
Lake Neusiedl, are Lake Neufeld in the Eisenstadt area, as well as Lange
Lacke, Darscho and Zicksee in Seewinkel.
Burgenland shares the Illyrian climate in southern Burgenland and the
Pannonian climate in the remaining parts of the country. Central and
northern Burgenland is more continental than the south of the country.
The average temperatures here are between −2 °C and −4 °C in January and
around 21 °C in July.
On August 8, 2013, a new temperature record
for Burgenland was reached in Neusiedl am See with a maximum temperature
of 40.3 degrees Celsius.
Various levels of protection have been set up in Burgenland to
preserve habitats and landscapes. Another important goal is diversity,
uniqueness, beauty and the recreational value of nature and landscape.
This protection includes several protection areas or levels, some
objects or areas are wholly or partly in several categories:
There is
a national There is a national park, the Neusiedler See-Seewinkel
National Park, which forms the Austrian part of the UNESCO World
Heritage Cultural Landscape Fertő/Neusiedler See. See also: National
Parks in Austria and World Heritage in Austria
There is also:
29 nature reserves, see the list of nature reserves in Burgenland
8
landscape protection areas, see the list of landscape protection areas
in Burgenland
a protected part of the landscape, see the list of
protected parts of the landscape in Burgenland
15 European protected
areas, see the list of European protected areas in Burgenland
5
protected habitats, see List of protected habitats in Burgenland
6
nature parks (list for all of Austria)
Administrative division
Burgenland consists of 171 independent municipalities and is divided
into seven political districts and the two free cities of Eisenstadt and
Rust. In 2019, Burgenland had the lowest average number of inhabitants
per municipality of all Austrian provinces, with an average of only 1716
inhabitants per municipality, see also municipalities in the states of
Europe. All of Austria had an average of 4227 inhabitants per
municipality in 2019., the Neusiedler See-Seewinkel National Park, which
corresponds to the Austrian
Circa 400 BC the Celts settled in what is now Burgenland. Around
the time of Christ's birth, Burgenland became part of the (ancient)
Roman Empire; its territory belonged to the province of Pannonia. Roman
rule ended in 378 AD. The country was then settled by the Ostrogoths.
The Huns ruled here from 433 to 453 AD. In 454, the future Ostrogoth
king Theodoric the Great was born in the area of Lake Neusiedl. The
Lombards followed the Huns from 490 to 568. From 600 to 800 the country
was ruled by the Avars. At the end of the 8th century, the Frankish king
Charlemagne defeated the Avars and the country was incorporated into the
Frankish Empire as part of the Awarenmark. After 800 the first German
settlement took place under Charlemagne. In the 9th century it was part
of the Slavic Principality of Lake Balaton and the Great Moravian
Empire. In 907 the Magyars conquered the country.
Around 1260 the
Counts of Güssing owned 25 castles in the area. The Counts of
Mattersdorf-Forchtenstein, who came from Aragon in Spain, also owned
large estates in what is now northern and central Burgenland. At the
time of the first Turkish siege of Vienna in 1529, the villages in the
Seewinkel were devastated. Around 1530 Croats were settled in today's
Burgenland. The area, part of the Kingdom of Hungary, which had been
populated predominantly by Germans since the Turkish wars, had been
leased by the Hungarian kings in the Middle Ages to the Habsburgs as
archdukes of neighboring Austria below the Enns and as dukes of Styria,
which was also adjacent. When Habsburg inherited the Hungarian royal
crown in 1526, this lease became obsolete. In 1622 Nikolaus Esterházy
was enfeoffed with the rule of Forchtenstein and in 1648 with
Eisenstadt.
From 1648 to 1921 the area was under Hungarian
administration. In 1664 the country suffered from the Turkish War and in
1678 from the Kuruc War. At the time of the second Turkish siege of
Vienna, northern Burgenland was hit hard again.
After the
Austro-Hungarian settlement in 1867, the area later called German-West
Hungary was also subjected to the Magyarization that began throughout
Old Hungary, i. H. the attempt to successively convert or assimilate the
non-Magyar peoples of the Kingdom of Hungary, who made up around 50% of
the total population, to Magyars (Hungarians). This contrasted with the
right of self-determination demanded by Woodrow Wilson at the end of the
First World War for the peoples of the Danube monarchy.
After the
collapse of Austria-Hungary in 1918, the newly founded state of
German-Austria claimed, among other things, the German-speaking part of
western Hungary for itself. In the Treaty of St. Germain concluded
between Austria and the victorious powers of the First World War, the
area was granted to Austria in 1919; Hungary had to commit to ceding it
in the 1920 Treaty of Trianon. After the establishment of the
short-lived Republic of Lajtabánság under the leadership of the
volunteer commander Pál Prónay in October 1921, the area was occupied by
the Austrian army in the following month and officially handed over from
Hungary to Austria on December 5, 1921. The attitude of the
German-speaking settlers in western Hungary to the union with Austria
was (rather) inconsistent for economic reasons. After violent protests
in Hungary, a referendum was held in December 1921 for Ödenburg
(Hungarian: Sopron), which was intended to be the capital of the new
federal state, and its surroundings, which led to Ödenburg remaining in
Hungary. The overall result of the referendum was a clear two-thirds
majority in favor of remaining with Hungary, as numerous voters from the
interior of the country were consulted. The communities around Sopron
voted for Austria (but still stayed with Hungary, since the voting area
was only counted as a unit); the majority of the population in the city
of Sopron voted to remain with Hungary.
Finally, in January 1923,
the town of Luising, now part of the municipality of Heiligenbrunn, was
added to Austria.
The admission of the province to the Republic
of Austria was regulated in the Federal Constitutional Law on the
position of Burgenland as an independent and equal province in the
federal government and on its provisional establishment of January 25,
1921.
The state name Heinzenland (after the Hianzn dialect, see
also the short-lived Republic of Heinzenland) was propagated by some
advocates of incorporation into the Republic of Austria, but the
proposal for Burgenland finally prevailed.
Burgenland was taken
over by Austrian administration in autumn 1921. Bad Sauerbrunn was the
provisional seat of the provincial government and administration until
1925; then the small town of Eisenstadt (Hungarian: Kismarton), which
had been relatively insignificant until then, was made the capital of
Burgenland.
In the "Greater German Reich" after the "Anschluss"
of Austria, the cities of Eisenstadt, Rust and the districts of
Eisenstadt, Mattersburg, Neusiedl am See and Oberpullendorf were added
to the Reichsgau Niederdonau on October 15, 1938, and the districts of
Güssing, Jennersdorf and Oberwart to the Reichsgau Styria.
fter
the end of the Second World War and the reestablishment of the Republic
of Austria in 1945 (Second Republic), Burgenland was re-established as a
federal state. Until 1955 it was in the Soviet occupation zone, until
1989 the Iron Curtain existed on its eastern border.
Since the
year 2000, Burgenland has received EU funding as development aid from
the European structural and investment funds.
In order to define
the border between Styria and Burgenland again along the course of the
Lafnitz river after human intervention, Burgenland became 6000 square
meters larger in 2021.
The name "Burgenland" reminds us that the country is made up of parts
of three old Hungarian counties, all of which had "Burg" in their name.
What is curious is the fact that none of the three castles that gave it
its name are located in what is now Burgenland. They are all on
Hungarian territory:
Wieselburg (Moson)
Sopron
Eisenburg (Vas)
At the beginning of 1919 Austria also claimed parts of the county of
Pressburg (Slovakian: Bratislava, Hungarian: Pozsony) for Burgenland.
Therefore, in June 1919, the name "Vierburgenland" was proposed. In
mid-August 1919, however, it became apparent in the peace negotiations
that Pressburg would go to Czechoslovakia. From Saint-Germain, Karl
Renner recommended changing the name to "Dreiburgenland".
The
name "Burgenland" was said to have been suggested for the first time by
Gregor Meidlinger from Frauenkirchen, on September 6, 1919 after a
German-West Hungarian delegation had spoken to Chancellor Karl Renner.
This name became generally used at the latest with the Federal
Constitutional Law on the status of Burgenland as an equal federal state
of January 25, 1921.
Since Burgenland was traditionally economically backward, many
Burgenlanders emigrated to big cities and to America, making Vienna and
Chicago the cities with the largest "Burgenland" populations, ahead of
Eisenstadt.
In the 2001 census, 19,374 people across Austria
stated that they spoke Burgenland-Croatian, with 16,245 residing in
Burgenland itself. According to the self-assessment of the ethnic group,
their number is 40,000. There were also 4,704 Burgenland-Hungarians
(self-estimated 25,000). 263 indicated Romany as their colloquial
language. However, the real number of Burgenland Roma is probably also
significantly higher.
The various ethnic groups are legally
recognized as autochthonous language groups. The Croatian and Hungarian
Burgenlanders as well as the Sinti and Roma are therefore entitled to
use their languages in public correspondence. Based on a decision by the
Council of Ministers of May 23, 2000, place-name signs with bilingual
inscriptions in German/Croatian (47 places) and German/Hungarian (4
places ) set up. Their existence and the high 25 percent limit are no
longer discussed controversially in Burgenland - there were also heated
debates about this in the 1970s, but the discussions about bilingual
place-name signs never escalated to the level of the place-name sign
dispute in Carinthia.
Austria's least populated federal state exceeded the 300,000 mark for
the first time on 1 January 2023 with 301,311 inhabitants, making it
only slightly more populous than Graz. With a percentage increase of
1.3%, Burgenland, after Vienna, had the largest increase in the period
from January 2022 to January 2023.
While the number of
inhabitants is stagnating or declining in central Burgenland and
southern Burgenland (districts: Jennersdorf, Güssing, Oberwart and
Oberpullendorf), the number of inhabitants in northern Burgenland
(districts: Mattersburg, Eisenstadt area, Neusiedl/See, Eisenstadt and
Rust) is steadily increasing (sometimes sharply). to.
With Franz
Liszt (* October 22, 1811, Raiding; † July 31, 1886, Bayreuth) and
Joseph Haydn (* March 31, 1732, Rohrau; † May 31, 1809, Vienna), two
important classical composers and musicians have a close relationship
Relation to the area of today's Burgenland.
Although the majority of Burgenlanders, like the rest of Austria, are
predominantly Roman Catholic, there is a relatively high proportion of
Protestants here at 14%, who live in the 29 parishes of the
Superintendent A. B. Burgenland and in the evangelical parish H.B.
Oberwart are organized.
There used to be a large and important
Jewish culture, especially in the so-called "seven communities"
(Eisenstadt, Mattersburg, Kittsee, Frauenkirchen, Kobersdorf, Lackenbach
and Deutschkreutz) with a high percentage of Jewish population. In
Lackenbach in 1869, 62% of the population was Jewish; however, the
largest Jewish community in Burgenland was that in Mattersburg. By the
end of the 19th century, Jews made up more than a third of the
population here. In 1938 all Jews were expelled from Burgenland or
murdered, there is very little left of Jewish life in Burgenland in the
past.
The patron saint of Burgenland is Saint Martin of Tours.
The state parliament elects the members of the state government (cf. Article 53 of the Burgenland Constitution). President of the state parliament is Verena Dunst (SPÖ).
The strongly rural Burgenland was governed by provincial
governors from the ÖVP until 1964, since then all have belonged to the
SPÖ. The social democrats benefited from the structural change, which
was reflected in a sharp decline in employment in agriculture and in a
high number of commuters to Vienna and Graz. Due to its decades of
dominance, the party has a dense network of political structures down to
the lowest political level. Especially since there are no large urban
centers, the election results of the Neos and Greens are well below the
national average, and the FPÖ also achieves poorer results. In
Burgenland, too, the proportion of regular voters has steadily declined.
While the SPÖ won the absolute majority in the 2020 state elections in
Burgenland, the ÖVP became the strongest party in the 2019 national
elections in Austria and the 2019 European elections in Austria for the
first time since the 1960s.
After the 2020 state elections, the
state government of Burgenland, with its headquarters in the Landhaus,
will consist of five members of the SPÖ. After proportional
representation was abolished in 2015, this is the first one-man
government in Burgenland since 1945. Between 2015 and 2020, a coalition
of the SPÖ and the FPÖ governed.
In the 2017 local council elections, the SPÖ emerged as the strongest
party (44.4%), despite slight losses. However, the ÖVP (41.9%) was able
to gain a few mayors and has had the same number of mayors since the
election as the SPÖ (74 each).
In the 2022 local council
elections, the SPÖ gained a lot (48.8%) and has had 95 mayors since
then. The ÖVP lost strength (39.9%) and has had 71 mayors since then.
Description: In gold, a red, naturally sitting on a black mountain, looking to the left, gold-crowned, red-tongued and gold-armored eagle with outstretched wings and black paw crosses hovering over the Saxons. On the chest a shield split three times in red and white ermine.
The online platform e-government Burgenland provides online forms and print forms for citizens and companies, with which entries can be sent to the state of Burgenland, its authorities and offices, independent of time and place. The form service Burgenland thus provides a central access point to forms from the most diverse areas of life such as work, building and housing, health, etc. Form solutions from the Austrian IT service provider aforms2web are used.
The A2, A3, A4 and A6 motorways run partly through Burgenland.
Likewise the Burgenland-Straße (B 50) and the Burgenland-Schnellstraße
(S 31).
The Raaberbahn, the Pannoniabahn, the Neusiedler Seebahn
and the partly disused Pinkatalbahn run through Burgenland. There was
also the Südburgenländische Regionalbahn.
In Burgenland there are
some regional bus lines (mainly ÖBB post buses and buses from Südburg),
which belong to the Verkehrsverbund Ost-Region (VOR). In 2021, the
Burgenland transport company was also founded to improve the public
transport infrastructure in southern Burgenland.
Since December
2016 there have been three city bus routes in the state capital of
Eisenstadt: Georg (line 1), Vitus (line 2) and Martin (line 3). In
December 2018, the Fanny line (line 4) was put into operation. Lines 1,
2 and 3 run every half hour, line 4 every hour. None of the lines run on
Sundays.
With a narrow-gauge railway to Lake Neusiedl,
Burgenland's second largest city, Neusiedl am See, had its own
non-electrified tram line from 1928 to 1939. From December 2006 to June
2014, Neusiedl am See also had a city bus line that was operated under
the name ne'mo (neusiedl mobil).
Due to a lack of alternatives, the country was long characterized by
agriculture. As an economically underdeveloped federal state of Austria,
Burgenland was declared a target 1 area of the European Union in 1995.
These subsidies continued in a "phasing out" phase until 2013.
Burgenland has continued to develop economically over the past ten
years. In comparison with the gross domestic product of the European
Union expressed as purchasing power standard (PPS), the region achieves
an index of 89 (EU-28: 100, Austria: 129) (2014). There is still a
north-south divide in economic power. These disparities can only be
reduced very slowly. Around 23,000 Burgenlanders commute to work in
Vienna as daily or weekly commuters, depending on the distance. In 2017,
the degree of motorization (passenger cars per 1000 inhabitants) was
659.
Burgenland is characterized by agriculture. Along with Lower
Austria, it is the most important wine-growing region in Austria. 11,284
hectares (as of November 30, 2022) are cultivated in Burgenland
viticulture.[35] It is divided into the following wine-growing regions:
Lake Neusiedl (6,675 ha)
Leithaberg (3,097 ha)
Rust (412 ha)
Rosalia (297 ha)
Central Burgenland (2,104 ha)
Eisenberg (515 ha)
In addition to the provincial capital Eisenstadt, important economic
locations are the Burgenland business parks: Kittsee, Parndorf/Neusiedl
am See, Müllendorf and Heiligenkreuz are already existing business
settlements, Oberpullendorf/Steinberg-Dörfl and
Rudersdorf/Deutsch-Kaltenbrunn are in planning or under construction.
Leading companies in Burgenland include Unger Stahlbau, Melecs,
Leier International and Becom Electronics.
Burgenland is a
European pioneer in the field of wind energy. In 2000, around three
percent of the electricity produced in the country came from wind
turbines; in 2011 it was already half. In 2013, the country was
self-sufficient in terms of electricity, as more than 100 percent of the
electricity used in the country was generated from renewable energies.
Several large wind farms were also built: The Andau/halbturn wind farm,
for example, has 79 Enercon E-101 wind turbines and an installed
capacity of 237 MW. When it was completed, it was the largest wind farm
in Central Europe.
Another important economic factor is summer
tourism.
Tourism figures in Burgenland have improved continuously in recent
years. However, it cannot keep up with the tourist strongholds in
western Austria when it comes to the number of overnight stays. With a
lack of ski areas and an increasingly rare frozen Lake Neusiedl (largest
natural ice rink in Central Europe), there is hardly any winter tourism.
The driving forces behind tourism in Burgenland are Lake Neusiedl, the
thermal baths of St. Martins Therme & Lodge, Lutzmannsburg, Stegersbach
and Bad Tatzmannsdorf and, last but not least, the wine, which is
cultivated almost throughout Burgenland.
The more than 5000 km
long, well-developed cycle path network is particularly popular.
Although the northern part of Burgenland is rather flat, bike tours can
get tiring when the wind blows through the country. (See: cycle path in
Burgenland)
Shopping tourism should not be underestimated. There
are now two designer outlets near Parndorf (including Central Europe's
largest outlet and the largest private employer in Burgenland), with
over 230 shops and restaurants. These attract more than six million
guests every year, who come not only from nearby Vienna, but from all
over Eastern Europe and sometimes even from other continents for
shopping tours. As many customers do not manage to manage the entire
outlet in one day, a hotel (Burgenland's highest skyscraper) opened on
the site in 2009.
Many guests also bring cultural events to
Burgenland, e.g. B. the lake festival Mörbisch and the opera festival in
Sankt Margarethen. An important tourist magnet is the Familypark
Neusiedlersee (formerly the Fairy Tale Forest), the largest amusement
park in Austria, which attracts more than 600,000 guests every year. The
municipalities with the highest number of overnight stays are Podersdorf
am See and Bad Tatzmannsdorf.
The supreme police department is the state police headquarters in
Eisenstadt. In every district except Rust there is a district police
command, which is responsible for the individual police departments. In
2016, as a pilot project in some communities, the security partners were
founded to increase the sense of security and to alert the police if
necessary.
In 2011, a total of 319 volunteer fire brigades and 7
company fire brigades, which are organized in the Burgenland State Fire
Brigade Association, were responsible for fire protection and general
assistance. There are no professional fire brigades in Burgenland. The
association's own state fire brigade school in Eisenstadt provides
training for around 15,000 fire brigade members.
The rescue
service in Burgenland is mainly carried out by the Red Cross. The
Samaritan Federation also maintains a group with bases.
The
coordination of the blue light organizations is carried out throughout
the state by the LSZ Burgenland (state security center) with its
headquarters in Landhaus Eisenstadt. The storm warnings for Lake
Neusiedl are also triggered here.
The Burgenland University of Applied Sciences has two locations: The
location in the north (Eisenstadt) specializes in information
technology, social work and business, while the one in the south
(Pinkafeld) specializes in energy and environmental management and
health. Students in Burgenland do not have to pay tuition fees.
In addition to the Burgenland University of Education and the Burgenland
Joseph Haydn Conservatory (both in Eisenstadt), there was the European
Peace University in Stadtschlaining until 2014.
With Franz Liszt (* October 22, 1811, Raiding; † July 31, 1886,
Bayreuth) and Joseph Haydn (* March 31, 1732, Rohrau; † May 31, 1809,
Vienna), two important classical composers and musicians have a close
connection to the area of today's Burgenland.
Wander Bertoni
(1925–2019), sculptor. He has lived in Winden am See since 1965, where
he has set up an open-air museum.
Anton Lehmden (1929–2018), painter
and printmaker (Vienna School of Fantastic Realism). He has lived in
Deutschkreutz Castle since the late 1960s, where he installed an
exhibition of paintings.
There are cultural offerings mainly in summer, with the Lockenhaus
Chamber Music Festival founded by Gidon Kremer in 1981 (Nicolas
Altstaedt has been the artistic director since 2012) in the parish
church and castle in the municipality of Lockenhaus, the Mörbisch Lake
Festival on the lake stage on Lake Neusiedl, the opera festival in the
Roman quarry in St. Margarethen, the Kobersdorf Castle Games, the
Güssing Castle Games, Güssing Musicals, Güssing Cultural Summer,
Festival summer Jennersdorf or the Europa-Symposium Kaisersteinbruch
with the Kaisersteinbrucher concerts.
The courtyard of Tabor
Castle, with two-storey arcades, is used in summer for the performance
of an opera and for numerous other events.
Due to the many
minorities, folk customs in Burgenland are particularly varied. Cultural
events such as Croatian or Hungarian home evenings are also held by the
minorities. With Romano Rath from Oberwart there is also a well-known
Roma band in Burgenland.
A cultural partnership was concluded
with the German city of Bayreuth in 1990. The musician Franz Liszt, born
in Raiding in Burgenland, was the father-in-law of the composer Richard
Wagner from his second marriage to Cosima. In Bayreuth, where Wagner had
his festival theater built, Liszt was a guest several times and died
there in 1886. His grave is in the Bayreuth city cemetery.
The
central contact point for culture in Eisenstadt is the
Kultur-Kongress-Zentrum Eisenstadt on Franz-Schubert-Platz.
Several festivals take place in Wiesen every year from June to
September, with rock, reggae, jazz or electronic music in the
foreground. In addition, there are numerous concerts with world stars of
various genres. Jazz and rock festivals have also been taking place in
Eisenstadt since 2016. In Nickelsdorf, Austria's largest rock music
festival, Nova Rock, attracts up to 160,000 guests from home and abroad
every year in June. In Nickelsdorf, too, the jazz festival Konfrontionen
has taken place every year in July since 1980; In addition to the
concerts, film screenings, art exhibitions, plays and readings are also
offered. Another small festival that regularly brings well-known
musicians and bands to Burgenland is the Picture on in Bildein. With the
Cselley Mühle in Oslip, Burgenland also has a nationwide important
action and cultural center where concerts or performances by cabaret
artists take place regularly.
The "Non-violent Burgenland" forum
regularly organizes the "Golden Cloverleaf" literary competition.
Esterházy Palace: The baroque palace has been owned by the noble
Esterházy family since the 17th century; Landmark of the state capital
Halbturn Castle: Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt erected the baroque
building at the beginning of the 18th century and the castle served as a
hunting lodge and summer residence for the imperial family. Today the
castle, together with its castle park, is the venue for events.
Kobersdorf Castle: Franz Graf Kery built a late Renaissance wing on the
site of a former moated castle in the 17th century. The Kobersdorf
Castle Games have been held there since 1972.
Rotenturm Castle: Built
in the 1860s as the seat of the Erdödy count family, Rotenturm Castle
had different owners after 1924 and was left to decay. The castle has
been privately owned since 2008 and has since been completely renovated.
The ballrooms are used for various events and the chapel within the
castle can be used for wedding ceremonies.
Forchtenstein Castle: The
late medieval building was the former seat of the Lords of
Forchtenstein. In 1450 the noble family died out for lack of male
descendants and the castle was owned by the Habsburgs for 170 years.
Nikolaus Esterházy received the castle from Emperor Ferdinand II in 1622
and began to expand the now dilapidated castle into a fortress.
Lockenhaus Castle: The hilltop castle from the 13th century is located
in the Günser mountains on a rocky outcrop on the Günsbach. In 1968,
Paul Anton Keller and his wife acquired the castle complex and renovated
the castle, which was in a poor condition.
Schlaining Castle: After
extensive renovations, the Friedensburg from the 13th century is home to
the Peace Institute and various exhibitions.
Güssing Castle: Built in
1157, it is the oldest castle complex in Burgenland and has been owned
by the Batthyány family since 1524. In 1459 the castle gained historical
importance when dissatisfied magnates gathered there and Emperor
Friedrich III. elected King of Hungary.
Bernstein Castle: The highest
castle in Burgenland has been owned by the Almásy family since 1892 and
is now run as a hotel and restaurant.
Landsee Castle Ruins: The
former fortress was just a few hundred meters east of the border between
the Austrian territories of the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of
Hungary. The castle ruins are a popular destination in the heart of the
Landseer Berge nature park.
Bergkirche: also called "Haydnkirche";
Planned as a pilgrimage church in the 17th century, it was not completed
until 1803 after decades of construction being interrupted. The coffin
of the composer Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) has been in the mountain church
since 1932.
St. Martin's Cathedral: The former parish church has been
the cathedral of the Eisenstadt diocese since 1960.
Basilica
Frauenkirchen: After widespread destruction due to the second Turkish
siege of Vienna (1683), the baroque pilgrimage church was rebuilt from
scratch and in 1990 was elevated to the status of a minor basilica by
Pope John Paul II.
Basilica Maria Loretto: After the complex had been
largely destroyed by the Turks in 1683, the church was rebuilt by Prince
Paul Esterházy and consecrated again in 1707.
Neusiedler See /
Seewinkel: The largest lake in Austria and the areas to the east of it
(Seewinkel) account for a majority of the tourism figures in Burgenland
and is a popular bathing resort, especially due to its geographical
proximity to Vienna - the lake is therefore often referred to as the sea
of the Viennese. The area has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since
2001.
Lighthouse Podersdorf: The lighthouse is located at the small
port of Podersdorf am See. The approx. twelve meter high tower was built
as a point of orientation and for storm warnings for water sports
enthusiasts, but is also a popular photo motif.
Freistadt Rust: With
its historic old town and large numbers of storks (more than 30 stork
nests), Freistadt, together with Lake Neusiedl, is a UNESCO World
Heritage Site.
Geography Stone: At 884 meters, the Geography Stone is
the highest mountain in Burgenland and western Hungary, as well as the
easternmost foothills of the Alps. A stone observation tower was built
in Rechnitz in 1913, which today stands directly on the Austria-Hungary
border. The entrance to the viewpoint is on the Austrian side.
Cellar
Quarter Heiligenbrunn: an ensemble of more than 100 historic, often
thatched wine cellar buildings from the 17th and 18th centuries. The
cellar district is part of the Weinidylle nature park.
Open-air
museum Gerersdorf: an open-air museum founded privately in 1976 with
mostly thatched residential and farm buildings, utensils and farm
equipment from the 18th to early 20th centuries
The cuisine of Burgenland is heavily influenced by Hungarian cuisine.
Common ingredients are fish, chicken and goose, as well as cabbage
roulade, cabbage soup, fish soup, stuffed peppers, letscho, goulash,
grenadier march, bean and cabbage strudel. Another specialty that
Burgenland has in common with Hungary is the Grammelpogatscherl. The
meat of the so-called Zickental bog ox is considered a specialty of
southern Burgenland.
Burgenland is known for its wine and,
together with Lower Austria, is the largest wine-growing region in
Austria. A southern Burgenland wine specialty is the Uhudler, a direct
wine made from the grape varieties Concord, Delaware, Elvira and
Isabella. There are also many mineral and thermal springs in Burgenland.
Well-known mineral water brands are Römerquelle, Waldquelle, Juvina and
formerly Güssinger (Vitaquelle).
In Sandeck (Seewinkel) in Burgenland, there are now rare white
donkeys. There are also Przewalski horses, Hungarian steppe cattle,
Mangalica pigs and water buffalo in the Seewinkel.
Among other
things, the endangered swamp vole is at home in the Seewinkel. The
Seewinkel is also the westernmost distribution area in which Austria's
largest spider, the South Russian tarantula, is found.
An endemic plant that occurs mainly in Burgenland (Seewinkel), and
also in places in the neighboring county (Hungary), is the Lake Neusiedl
salt swath (Latin: Puccinellia peisonis). It is highly salt-resistant,
grows in heavily salty habitats such as on Solontschak soils and on the
banks of saline lakes, and is endangered.
Another endemic species
is the serpentine cinderberry (lat. Tephroseris integrifolia subsp.
serpentini). It occurs exclusively on semi-arid grassland above
serpentine rock in the Bernstein Mountains, on the northern edge of
southern Burgenland, and is highly endangered.
In the district of
Güssing, in the villages of Hagensdorf and Luising in the municipality
of Heiligenbrunn, there are two checkered flower meadows. This
approximately 33-hectare nature reserve has the largest occurrence of
the endangered checkered flower (lat. Fritillaria meleagris) in Austria.
Birds
In Burgenland there is a very diverse bird world. In
addition to storks (typical for Burgenland), there are eg herons,
avocets, stilts, waders, spoonbills, lapwings, snipes and bustards in
the Neusiedlersee-Seewinkel region. Buzzards, white-tailed eagles and
imperial eagles are also common in Burgenland. The endangered scops owls
and hoopoes are at home in Burgenland, as are bee-eaters and
kingfishers.