Sopron - Part 2 - The City, Part IV.

After three posts about the beautiful Hungarian city called Sopron, it's time to show you the city center, that is wonderful. It's an old city with a colorful history and thank God the old houses and monuments are still standing. I love old city centers where you can basically see the city's history just by looking at the houses and buildings. These houses are telling you what the city's been through.

This is the town hall of Sopron. The first town hall was built in 1497 and was a smaller building that gave home to the office for almost 400 years.

In 1615 an artist and mayor of Sopron, Lackner Kristóf decorated the town hall with paintings, inside and outside but unfortunately in 1676 there was a fire that destroyed a part of the building.

In 1896 a new town hall was built and the city celebrated the millennium with the new building.

A few houses built in baroque style had to be demolished to give place to the new town hall. It was a controversial action as many of the citizens did not agree at the time.

At the moment of our visit, a high ranked state official was expected and the military was present to greet him. These poor guys were getting orders of all kinds just for time to pass and so they don't stay in one place. The heat was terrible and they had keep the order and stay focused.

The statue of Sopronyi-Thurner Mihály (1878-1952), a city official that had a substantial contribution to the city's development. He was born in 1878 as the tenth child of a German family and learned Hungarian at the age of 12. In 1912 Thurner Mihály became the city's accountant, then he enrolled in the army but soon was called home as the city needed his services. In 1918 Thurner Mihály became the mayor of Sopron.

This statue is the work of Kutas László, it's placed under the arcade of the city hall and it's a place for tourists to take some fun photos next to the statue.

The plaque above the arcade says the nation for Sopron. It's a wonderful artwork.

The other side of the main square, half under renovation, so there wasn't any chance of taking decent photos.

Memorial house of Roth Gyula, a forest engineer and university professor. There's a high school and a collage in Sopron, named after him.

This plaque was set in 1985 to commemorate the centenary of the Roth Gyula high school and a collage , named after him.

The entrance of the house with this lovely old door and a lamp above the door reminding us of those old times when street lighting was done in another way.

Antal Pharmacy Museum. This is a place that I wanted to visit but had no luck as it was Monday and usually museums are closed on Monday. It's an old pharmacy made museum at first site but in fact it's more than that. It's part of Sopron's history.

In this house once lived famous pharmacists and doctors, among which Adam Gensel, a meteorologist, who was the first in the world to study the effect of weather fronts on the human body. This happened at the beginning of the 20th century.

The building is situated in the main square, in the 16th century the city council wanted to demolish the building because it took up a considerable space on the main square but Louis II of Hungary issued an order in 1525 forbidding the demolition. This is the first written document making a building a protected monument. The document can be found in Sopron's archive.

Inside you can see the furniture of the old pharmacy dispensing room, a work desk, cabinets and cupboards from the 19th century. The main purpose of the collection was to reconstruct the interior of the former pharmacy and to display other pharmaceutical and medical relics of the city. The museum opened its doors in 1968 and it's the first pharmacy museum in Hungary.

I'm really sorry I could not visit the place as old pharmacies have a history to tell. Back in those days everything was done differently, there were no pills made in pharmaceutical factories, most of the medications were made by pharmacists. Some people argue that pharmacist today are simple clerks, selling products and can't be compared to those who had to do everything from scratch. A part of this is true however, if you have the recipe and they have it, you can do it I believe. What these people fail to realize is safety. I know not many people have been in a pharmaceutical company as only personnel are allowed for a very good reason. They are dressed up, wearing protection clothes, masks etc. to avoid contamination. Imagine safety and protection in a pharmacy in the 18th century :)

A memorial plaque on the wall of the pharmacy museum, commemorating Dr. Nikolics Károly (1918 - 2000), who was a pharmacist, pharmacologist, candidate of pharmaceutical sciences, doctor of pharmaceutical sciences, and head university professor. The plaque was inaugurated in 2004.

Szent Mihály-templom, or St. Michael Church, built in the 13th century in Romanesque style and rebuilt in the 15th century in Gothic style.

Side entrance of the church.

Next time I'm in Sopron I know what to visit and I'll make sure to have the time to do it. If you're in town, make sure to have two days to visit everything and exclude Monday as most of the museums are closed :)

Read my other blogs about Sopron:

• Nagyi Konyhája, Granny's Kitchen - Sopron, Hungary
• Sopron - Part 1 - #Piknik30
• Sopron - Part 2 - The City, Part I.
• Sopron - Part 2 - The City, Part II.
• Sopron - Part 2 - The City, Part III.

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