Purbach am Neusiedlersee which is sometimes written as Purbach am Neusiedler See or Purbach am See, is a town in Burgenland

Burgenland

Burgenland is the easternmost and least populous state or Land of Austria. It consists of two Statutarstädte and seven districts with in total 171 municipalities. It is 166 km long from north to south but much narrower from west to east...

, Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, known for its viticulture

Viticulture

Viticulture is the science, production and study of grapes which deals with the series of events that occur in the vineyard. When the grapes are used for winemaking, it is also known as viniculture...

. It lies in the Eisenstadt-Umgebung

Eisenstadt-Umgebung

The Bezirk Eisenstadt-Umgebung is an administrative district in the federal state of Burgenland, Austria.The area of the district is 453.14 km², with a population of 38,752 , and a population density 86 persons per km²...

 administrative district (Politischer Bezirk

Bezirk

Bezirk means "district" in German and can refer to:* The primary Subdivisions of East Germany from 1952* The districts of Austria* Some of the Districts of Switzerland...

) in the federal state (Bundesland

States of Austria

Austria is a federal republic made up of nine states, known in German as Länder . Since Land is also the German word for a country, the term Bundesländer is often used instead to avoid ambiguity. The Constitution of Austria uses both terms...

) of Burgenland in Austria (Republik Österreich).

Purbach is located at the western shores of Neusiedler See

Neusiedler See

Lake Neusiedl is the second largest steppe lake in Central Europe, straddling the Austrian–Hungarian border. The lake covers 315 km², of which 240 km² is on the Austrian side and 75 km² on the Hungarian side. The lake's drainage basin has an area of about 1,120 km²...

, the only steppe

Steppe

In physical geography, steppe is an ecoregion, in the montane grasslands and shrublands and temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biomes, characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes...

 lake in Central Europe

Central Europe

Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...

, and the only lake without natural outflow in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

.

Names

Purbach am Neusiedlersee, literally Purbach on Lake Neusiedl, is often referred to solely as Purbach. It was Feketeváros, Sopron

Sopron (county)

Sopron is the name of a historic administrative county of the Kingdom of Hungary in present-day eastern Austria and northwestern Hungary. The capital of the county was Sopron.- Geography :...

, Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

 prior to the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire

Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

.

It was known as Porpuk in Croatian

Croatian language

Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...

.

History

Settlement in Purbach can be traced to the 6th century BCE

6th century BC

The 6th century BC started the first day of 600 BC and ended the last day of 501 BC.Pāṇini, in India, composed a grammar for Sanskrit, in this century or slightly later...

.

During Roman times

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

, it lay on the famous amber trade route

Amber Road

The Amber Road was an ancient trade route for the transfer of amber. As one of the waterways and ancient highways, for centuries the road led from Europe to Asia and back, and from northern Africa to the Baltic Sea....

.

The first documented mention of the town occurred in 1270.

In 1918, the city changed from Feketeváros, Sopron, Hungary to present day Purbach am Neusiedlersee, Burgenland, Austria.

External links

• www.purbach.at — official website (in German)
• www.sonnwendfeier.eu Midsummer Festival at Lake Neusiedl — Celebrating the longest day of the year...
• www.burgenland.info — Burgenland info
• nona.net — region maps of Purbach am Neusiedlersee
• tiscover.at — tourism information