Uzhhorod, Zakarpattia Oblast, Ukraine

🇺🇦 Uzhhorod previously and historically known as Ungvár is a city located in western Ukraine, at the border with Slovakia and near the border with Hungary. The city is located nearly within the same distance to the three nearest seas: the Baltic, the Adriatic and the Black Sea making it the most inland city in this part of Europe. It is the administrative centre of Zakarpattia Oblast, as well as the administrative centre of the surrounding Uzhhorod Raion within the oblast. The city itself is also designated as city of oblast significance, a status equivalent to that of a raion, and does not belong to Uzhhorod Raion.

The city was founded by early Slavs, one tribe of whom was the White Croats, who settled the area of the modern Uzhhorod under Kuber in the second half of the first millennium AD. Warriors from Ukraine established the Ungvar fortress in 677 according to the Chronicon Pictum. The settlement was the centre of a new Slavic principality headed by a dynasty descended from Porga's nephew Kubrat. In the 9th century, the fortified castle changed into a fortified early feudal town-settlement which according to Gesta Hungarorum was originally subject to the Old Bulgarian Prince Salan until falling to Laborec, a ruler who was loyal to Great Moravia.

Name 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).

The name Uzhhorod was coined in early 19th century Slavophile circles as a literal translation of the name Ungvár. The city officially adopted this name some time after 1920, under Czechoslovak administration.

The names of the city also include: English: Uzhgorod (before 1996); Rusyn: Ужгород, romanized: Užhorod, Rusyn: Унґвар, romanized: Ungvar (historically); Russian: Ужгород, romanized: Užgorod; Belarusian: Ужгарад, romanized: Užharad; Yiddish: אונגווער, romanized: Ingver, Yiddish: אונגוואַר, romanized: Ungvar; Czech: Užhorod; Slovak: Užhorod; German: Ungwar, Ungarisch Burg or Ungstadt; Polish: Użhorod; Romanian: Ujgorod.

History In the migration period Celts, Sarmatians, Huns, and Avars ruled the area. During the 9th century a fortified castle changed into a fortified early feudal town-settlement. The first mention of the settlement's name is "Hunguar" from c. AD 1150 in Gesta Hungarorum. According to Gesta Hungarorum, at the time of the Hungarian conquest the fortified castle was under the rule of Laborc, who is most likely a fictional figure created by Anonymus, named after the nearby river Laborc.

Almos's Magyars who had arrived in the region from Kyiv (then known as Kevevara) stormed the Hunguar fortress in 895 AD. Having taken over the castle, Almos appointed his son Árpád as prince of Hunguaria and from Ungvar all of his warriors were called Hungarians instead. This is naiv folk etymology by the medieval writer. For further information on the ethnonym of the Hungarians see the article Name of Hungary.

In the Kingdom of Hungary, the small town began to extend its borders. King Saint Stephen made it the centre (castrum) of Ung county with a strong military presence to protect the north east boarder of Hungary. 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 was involved in the civil wars in the interregnum between Hungarian barons when the dynasty of Árpád died out. Finally Charles I of Hungary from the Anjou dynasty, descendant of the House of Árpád by his mother occupied the throne. The Anjou House also ruled the Kingdom of Naples and the Hungarian king Charles I invited the Drugeths (Italian counts from the Kingdom of Naples) into Hungary and gave the town to them. The Drugeth family became a member of the Hungarian nobility. 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.

Under Habsburg rule During the 16–17th centuries The Kingdom of Hungary fell into three parts. The middle was occupied by the Ottoman Empire, the north west was ruled by the Habsburg dynasty, the eastern part became the Principality of Transylvania, that hold the independent Hungarian statehood. During this period there were many handicraft corporations in Uzhhorod. In this period the city was engaged in the religious and political fight between primarily Hungarian Protestant Transylvania and the German Catholic Austria. Each one wanted to reunite the Kingdom of Hungary under their rule. In 1646 the Union of Ungvár was proclaimed and the Greek-Catholic church was established, 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 Habsburgs. From 1780 the city became the capital of the Greek Catholic Eparchy and from 1776 the centre of a newly created school district.

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. By religion, 5,481 Roman Catholic, 5,305 Jewish, 4,473 Greek Catholic, 1,368 Calvinist. 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.

During the World Wars 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 centre of the territory. During these years Uzhhorod developed into an architecturally modern city.

After the First Vienna Award in 1938, Uzhhorod was given back to Hungary from which it was separated after World War I.

In 1941 the Jewish population reached 9,576. 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.

In the Soviet Union On 27 October 1944, the city was captured by the troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front of the Red Army. Thousands of ethnic Hungarians were killed, expelled, or else taken to work in Soviet forced labor camps. The Hungarian majority population was decimated in order to strengthen the Soviet and Ukrainian right to the city.

This period brought significant changes. On the outskirts of Uzhhorod new enterprises were constructed and the old enterprises were renewed. On 29 June 1945, Subcarpathian Ukraine was annexed by the Soviet Union and became a westernmost part of the Ukrainian SSR. This followed the assumption of local authority by the People's Committee of Transcarpathian Ukraine based in Uzhhorod and headed by a local Communist. That year the Uzhhorod State University (now Uzhhorod National University) was also opened. Since January 1946 Uzhhorod was the centre of newly formed Zakarpatska oblast.

In Ukraine Since 1991 Uzhhorod has become one of 24 regional capitals within independent 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.

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. United States First Lady Jill Biden visited the city on 8 May 2022, which was not announced to the public until after the visit.

Demographics According to the Ukrainian 2001 census, the population of Uzhhorod included: • Ukrainians including Rusyns (77.8%) • Russians (9.6%) • Hungarians (6.9%) • Slovaks (2.2%) • Romani (1.5%); According to a survey conducted by the International Republican Institute in April–May 2023, 85% of the city's population spoke Ukrainian at home, 9% spoke Russian, and 1% spoke Hungarian.

Transport The city is served by Uzhhorod railway station and has railway connections with Chop and Lviv. It is also served by Uzhhorod International Airport.

Government The territory of the city of Uzhhorod is coterminous with Uzhhorod urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine which was established on 12 June 2020.

Sport 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.

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. FC Uzhhorod currently in Ukrainian Second League also plays its matches at Avanhard Stadium.