I'm continuing my post series about Sopron, Hungary. This time I'm going to show you the city. Sopron is a small city but I was very impressed by what it has to offer. It has 62000 inhabitants and a lot old buildings, monuments that you can visit if you are in town.
Many cities have their names displayed in a place visited by many tourists and here you are, I found the place in Sopron where you can take a photo with the city name. The letters were placed in front of the List center in 2015,
Sopron, although it is situated at the other part of Hungary, next to the Austrian border, it's not very different from some Transylvanian cities. these were some similar streets, houses that you can find in Transylvania as well.
These are the houses you can find in Transylvania, especially with German population.
Another one, this time is a very good condition.
An old pub in a very bad shape that is for rent now. I truly hope there will be someone to rent it and restore it to its original shape as it's a shame to let it be destroyed by time. These houses mean history.
Judging from outside, this house has been property of an important, wealthy man or had some kind of role in city life but could not find any note indicating that. You don't see houses like that anymore.
Another old house with a wooden gate that reminds us of old times.
This was an interesting house, or the plaque on it to be more precise. What made me cross the street and have a better look were the zodiac symbols.
Turned out the house was the memorial house of Fényi Gyula (1845 – 1927), the Hungarian Jesuit and astronomer. He worked on our sun and leading the Haynald Observatory to be a leader in solar studies. It's an interesting memorial plaque that lets you know right away that the name and the face has something to do with astrology.
He published over 200 scientific papers in several languages. In 1916 he was elected a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The crater Fényi on the Moon and asteroid 115254 Fényi are named after him. source
Too bad the house was in a very bad shape. The city or whoever is the curator of the property should take a better care of it as it's part of the Hungarian history and not only.
Szentlélek-templom, or the Holy Spirit Church. After some digging I found out that was probably founded by the Johannites and the building may have been their hospital church, which was built opposite their hospital. The Holy Spirit Chapel stood on the site of the parish and served as the home chapel of the respective parish.
It was first mentioned as a church in 1521. The tower and western facade are probably from the 15th century. The small tower is barely higher than the top of church, and is a modest version of a downtown Benedictine church. Between the triangular rows of beams are the apex windows. At the corner of the medieval church and at the base of the Gothic tower is a Baroque foyer with an ornate gate.
I would have loved to go in and take a look at the beautiful interior as I love old churches but it was closed. It was Sunday evening and not all the churches are open all day.
The street that leads to the city center.
Stay tuned for the next episode.
Read my other blogs about Sopron: