Koszeg

In August 1532 a Habsburg garrison of a few hundred under Miklos Jurisics held the small castle at Koszeg against an Ottoman army for twenty-five days, long enough that the campaign season ran out and the advance on Vienna was abandoned. The town has rung its bells at eleven in the morning ever since to mark the withdrawal. What survives is one of the best-kept small historic centres in Hungary: a walled town of two connected squares, the Heroes' Gate, painted Baroque and Renaissance houses, the Jurisics castle with its museum and courtyard, and the Sgraffito House. Vineyards run up the slopes of the Koszeg hills behind, and the Austrian border is walking distance.

History

The town was founded in the third quarter of the thirteenth century by the Kőszegi family, a branch of the Héder clan, who moved their court here from Güssing before 1274; Charles Robert broke their power in 1327 and made Kőszeg a royal town in 1328. It passed to Austria in 1445 and stayed part of Lower Austria until 1647, and in 1532, between 5 and 30 August, the Croatian captain Nikola Jurišić and a garrison of only 700-800 Hungarian, Croat and German soldiers held off 19 major assaults by the Grand Vizier Ibrahim (Wikipedia, Kőszeg).

What you'll find

• Bells at eleven each morning - the town marking the 1532 withdrawal.
• The Jurisics castle - the fortification that held the siege.
• Two connected walled squares - the intact small-town centre.
• Painted Renaissance houses - the sgraffito and Baroque facades.

When to go

April to October; the town is quiet and cold in winter. Half a day. The grape procession in spring and summer festivals fill the squares. Museums close on Mondays.

Good to know

The town is small and a couple of hours covers the centre. Museum displays are modest. Weekend crowds from Austria fill the restaurants. There is little nightlife or evening activity.

Nearby

Jak abbey is south; Szombathely lies south-east.

Key facts