Uzhhorod (Ukrainian: У́жгород, pronounced [ˈuʒɦorod], Hungarian: Ungvár; German: Ungwar) is a city and municipality on the river Uzh in western Ukraine, at the border with Slovakia and near the border with Hungary. The city is approximately equidistant from the Baltic, the Adriatic and the Black Sea (650–690 km) making it the most inland city in this part of Europe. It is the administrative center of Zakarpattia Oblast (region), as well as the administrative center of the Uzhhorod Raion (district) within the oblast.
Uzhhorod
Ужгород | |
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City | |
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Uzhhorod Location of Uzhhorod Show map of Zakarpattia OblastUzhhorod Uzhhorod (Ukraine) Show map of Ukraine | |
Coordinates: 48°37′26″N 22°17′42″E | |
Country | Ukraine |
Oblast | Zakarpattia Oblast |
Raion | Uzhhorod Raion |
Founded | 9th century |
Government | |
• Mayor | Bohdan Andriiv [uk][1] (self-nominated[1]) |
Area | |
• Total | 65 km2 (25 sq mi) |
Elevation | 169 m (554 ft) |
Population (2021) | |
• Total | 115,542 |
• Density | 3,662/km2 (9,480/sq mi) |
Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
Postal code | 88000 |
Area codes | +380-312 |
Sister cities | Békéscsaba, Nyíregyháza, Krosno, Trogir, Pula, Corvallis, Darmstadt, Košice |
Climate | Cfb |
Website | rada-uzhgorod |
The city's earliest known name is Ungvár, from Hungarian Ung (River Uzh) and vár "castle, fortress", originally referring to a castle outside the city (probably Nevytske Castle[2]).[3][4]
The name Uzhhorod was coined in early 19th century Slavophile circles as a literal translation of the name Ungvár.[3][4] The city officially adopted this name in the early 20th century, under Czechoslovak administration.
The names of the city also include: English: Uzhgorod (before 1996); Rusyn: Ужгород, romanized: Užhorod, Rusyn: Унґвар, romanized: Ungvar (historically); Yiddish: אונגווער, romanized: Ingver, Yiddish: אונגוואַר, romanized: Ungvar; Czech: Užhorod; Slovak: Užhorod; German: Ungwar, Ungarisch Burg or Ungstadt; Polish: Użhorod; Romanian: Ujgorod.
Hungary (Middle Ages-WW1)
Principality of Hungary 895–1000
Kingdom of Hungary 1000–1526
Kingdom of Hungary 1526–1804
Kingdom of Hungary (crownland of the Austrian Empire 1804–1867)
Austro-Hungarian Empire 1867–1919
Czechoslovakia 1920–1938
Kingdom of Hungary 1938–1945
Ukrainian SSR ( Soviet Union) 1945–1991
Ukraine 1991–present
The best known of the first city founders are early Slavs. One of their tribes – White Croats – settled the area of the modern Uzhhorod in the second half of the first millennium AD.[6] During the 9th century a fortified castle changed into a fortified early feudal town-settlement, which became the center of a new Slavic principality, at the head of which was a mythical prince Laborec, who was vassal of Great Moravia .[6] Great Moravia, according to historians and experts did not extend as far east as Uzhgorod, in fact, it was west of what is now the City of Bratislava, Slovakia. According to Gesta Hungarorum, the city was under the rule of Salan, the Bulgarian Prince.[7]
Having been encouraged by Salan's men, Almos's Magyars who had arrived in the region from Kyiv (then known as Kevevara) stormed Ung fortress in 895 AD. They encountered no resistance from the original "Ungvarian" White-Croats under Laborec and, after capture, Laborec was beheaded on the banks of the Laborcy river that still carries his name. Having taken over the Ung-Var, Almos appointed his son Árpád as prince of Hunguaria and from Ung-Var all of his warriors were called Hungarians instead. [8]
After the arrival of the Hungarians, the small town began to extend its borders. In 1241–1242 the Mongols of Batu Khan burnt the settlement. After, in 1248 the city was granted town privileges by the King Béla IV of Hungary. In the early 14th century, Uzhhorod showed strong resistance to the new Hungarian rulers of the Anjou dynasty. Although the majority of inhabitants were Hungarians, they wanted more freedom. From 1318 for 360 years, the Drugeths (Italian counts from the Kingdom of Naples) owned the town. During that period Philip Drugeth built Uzhhorod Castle. Together with the castle, the city began to grow. From 1430, Uzhhorod became a free royal town.
During the 16–17th centuries there were many handicraft corporations in Uzhhorod. In this period the city was engaged in the religious fight between primarily Protestant Transylvania and Catholic Austria. In 1646 the Union of Ungvár was proclaimed and the Greek-Catholic church was established in Subcarpathia, in a ceremony held in the Ungvár castle by the Vatican Aegis. In 1707 Ungvár was the residence of Ferenc II Rákóczi, leader of the national liberation war of Hungarians against Vienna. From 1780 the city became the capital of the Greek Catholic Eparchy and from 1776 the center of a newly created school district.[9]
The beginning of the 19th century was characterized by economic changes, including the first factories in the city. The greatest influence on Ungvár among the political events of the 19th century was made by the Hungarian Revolution of 1848-1849, during which the native Hungarian nobility sought both to shake off the suzerainty of the Austrian Empire and to have authority over their own people. 27 March 1848 was officially celebrated in the city as the overthrow of the monarchy in Hungary. It is now celebrated in Hungary on 15 March.
In 1872 the first railway line opened, linking the city to the important railway junction of Chop, then known as Csap.
According to the 1910 census, the city had 16,919 inhabitants, of which 13,590 (80.3%) were Magyars, 1,219 (7.2%) Slovaks, 1,151 (6.8%) Germans, 641 (3.8%) Rusyns and 1.6% Czechs.[10] Since Jews were not counted as ethnicity (as defined by language), rather only religious group, this Austrian-Hungarian census does not specifically mention the Jewish population, which was significant, and represented about 31% of the total population in 1910.[11] At the same time, the municipal area of the city had a population composed of 10,541 (39.05%) Hungarians, 9,908 (36.71%) Slovaks, and 5,520 (20.45%) Rusyns.[12]
The First World War slowed down the tempo of city development. On 10 September 1919, Subcarpathia was officially allocated to the Republic of Czechoslovakia. Uzhhorod became the administrative center of the territory. During these years Uzhhorod developed into an architecturally modern city.[13]
After the First Vienna Award in 1938, Uzhhorod was given back to Hungary from which it was separated after WWI.
In 1941 the Jewish population reached 9,576.[citation needed] On 19 March 1944, Germans troops entered the city. They established a Judenrat (Jewish council) and set up two ghettos, at the Moskovitz brickyard and Gluck lumberyard. During May 1944, all Jews were deported to Auschwitz in five different transports and subsequently murdered. Only a few hundred Jews survived.[14]
On 27 October 1944, the city was captured by the troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front of the Red Army.[citation needed] Thousands of ethnic Hungarians were killed, expelled, or else taken to work in Soviet forced labor camps.[citation needed] The Hungarian majority population was decimated in order to strengthen the Soviet and Ukrainian right to the city.[citation needed]
This period brought significant changes. On the outskirts of Uzhhorod new enterprises were constructed and the old enterprises were renewed.[citation needed] On 29 June 1945, Subcarpathian Ukraine was annexed by the Soviet Union and became a westernmost part of the Ukrainian SSR. That year the Uzhhorod State University (now Uzhhorod National University) was also opened. Since January 1946 Uzhhorod was the center of newly formed Zakarpatska oblast.
Since 1991 Uzhhorod has become one of 24 regional capitals within Ukraine. Of these, Uzhhorod is the smallest and westernmost.
In 2002, a bust of Tomáš Masaryk, Czechoslovakia's first president, was unveiled in a main square of the city. A similar bust was unveiled in 1928 on the 10th anniversary of Czechoslovak independence, but was removed by the Hungarians when they took over the region in 1939.[15]
On 15 April 2022, as part of the derussification campaign that swept through Ukraine following the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Uzhhorod City Council decided to rename 58 streets connected to Russian figures.[16]
United States First Lady Jill Biden visited the city on 8 May 2022, which was not announced to the public until after the visit.[17]
Uzhhorod has a humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfb) with cool to cold winters and warm summers. The coldest month is January with an average temperature of −1.7 °C (28.9 °F) while the warmest month is July with an average temperature of 20.9 °C (69.6 °F).[18] The coldest temperature ever recorded is −28.2 °C (−18.8 °F) and the warmest temperature was 38.6 °C (101.5 °F). Average annual precipitation is 748 millimetres (29.4 in), which is evenly distributed throughout the year though the summer months have higher precipitation.[18] On average, Uzhhorod receives 2023 hours of sunshine per year.[19]
Climate data for Uzhhorod (1991–2020, extremes 1947–present) | |||||||||||||
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Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 13.3 (55.9) |
17.2 (63.0) |
25.4 (77.7) |
29.7 (85.5) |
33.4 (92.1) |
35.0 (95.0) |
38.6 (101.5) |
38.4 (101.1) |
35.9 (96.6) |
26.1 (79.0) |
23.3 (73.9) |
15.6 (60.1) |
38.6 (101.5) |
Average high °C (°F) | 1.7 (35.1) |
4.3 (39.7) |
10.4 (50.7) |
17.4 (63.3) |
22.1 (71.8) |
25.5 (77.9) |
27.6 (81.7) |
27.7 (81.9) |
21.9 (71.4) |
15.6 (60.1) |
9.2 (48.6) |
3.0 (37.4) |
15.5 (59.9) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | −1.2 (29.8) |
0.6 (33.1) |
5.4 (41.7) |
11.5 (52.7) |
16.1 (61.0) |
19.6 (67.3) |
21.3 (70.3) |
21.1 (70.0) |
15.9 (60.6) |
10.5 (50.9) |
5.4 (41.7) |
0.3 (32.5) |
10.5 (50.9) |
Average low °C (°F) | −4.2 (24.4) |
−3.0 (26.6) |
0.8 (33.4) |
5.6 (42.1) |
10.1 (50.2) |
13.7 (56.7) |
15.3 (59.5) |
14.9 (58.8) |
10.4 (50.7) |
5.9 (42.6) |
1.9 (35.4) |
−2.3 (27.9) |
5.8 (42.4) |
Record low °C (°F) | −28.2 (−18.8) |
−26.3 (−15.3) |
−17.5 (0.5) |
−6.9 (19.6) |
−4.4 (24.1) |
1.5 (34.7) |
5.4 (41.7) |
4.4 (39.9) |
−2.2 (28.0) |
−9.3 (15.3) |
−21.8 (−7.2) |
−24.7 (−12.5) |
−28.2 (−18.8) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 54 (2.1) |
53 (2.1) |
41 (1.6) |
45 (1.8) |
69 (2.7) |
68 (2.7) |
82 (3.2) |
67 (2.6) |
68 (2.7) |
62 (2.4) |
58 (2.3) |
64 (2.5) |
731 (28.8) |
Average extreme snow depth cm (inches) | 7 (2.8) |
7 (2.8) |
1 (0.4) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
4 (1.6) |
7 (2.8) |
Average rainy days | 11 | 10 | 13 | 15 | 16 | 16 | 15 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 14 | 13 | 162 |
Average snowy days | 14 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.3 | 5 | 12 | 49 |
Average relative humidity (%) | 82.6 | 76.2 | 67.4 | 61.4 | 65.2 | 68.0 | 67.4 | 68.6 | 72.8 | 76.0 | 80.1 | 83.3 | 72.4 |
Mean monthly sunshine hours | 55.8 | 87.0 | 152.7 | 202.4 | 266.2 | 266.3 | 279.1 | 269.2 | 189.8 | 140.4 | 71.4 | 45.8 | 2,023.1 |
Source 1: Pogoda.ru.net[18] | |||||||||||||
Source 2: World Meteorological Organization (humidity and sun 1981–2010)[19] |
According to the Ukrainian 2001 census, the population of Uzhhorod included:[20]
The city is served by Uzhhorod railway station and has railway connections with Chop and Lviv. It is also served by Uzhhorod International Airport.[21]
The city was home to the SC Rusj Užhorod football club from 1925. Contemporary side FC Hoverla Uzhhorod made their debut in the Ukrainian Premier League in 2001, but dissolved in 2016 due to money issues.[22]
In 2020 professional football matches at the highest levels of Ukraine returned to Uzhhorod since the 2020–21 season FC Mynai plays its home matches in the Avanhard Stadium.[23] FC Uzhhorod currently in Ukrainian Second League also plays its matches at Avanhard Stadium.
Uzhhorod is currently twinned with:
Administrative divisions of Zakarpattia Oblast | ||
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Administrative center: Uzhhorod | ||
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Hromadas | ||
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Urban-type settlements |
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Capital: Kyiv | |
Oblasts | |
Cities with special status | |
Autonomous republic |
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1Claimed and controlled by Russia as the Republic of Crimea and the Federal City of Sevastopol 2Partly under military occupation and controlled by Russia |
Cities in Ukraine | |
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1,000,000+ | |
500,000-1,000,000 |
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200,000-500,000 |
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100,000-200,000 |
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