Facts About Szombathely
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The name Szombathely is from Hungarian szombat, “Saturday” and hely, “place”, referring to its status as a market town, and the medieval markets held on Saturday every week. Once a year during August they hold a carnival to remember the history of “Savaria”.
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Szombathely is the oldest recorded city in Hungary. It was founded by the Romans in 45 AD under the name of Colonia Claudia Savariensum.
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Szombathely is the administrative centre of Vas county in the west of the country, located near the border with Austria.
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The city remained inhabited throughout the Middle Ages.
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James Joyce wrote that the character Virág Rudolf, the father of Leopold Bloom, his Jewish Irish protagonist in Ulysses, was from Szombathely.
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Szombathely is 209 m above sea level.
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Szombathely is known as the birthplace of Saint Martin of Tours.
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Szombathely is twinned with Ferrara, Italy; Hunedoara, Romania; Kaufbeuren, Germany; Kolding, Denmark; Kutaisi, Georgia; Lappeenranta, Finland; Lecco, Italy; Maribor, Slovenia; Tallinn, Estonia; Oberwart, Austria; Ramat Gan, Israel; Santiago do Cacém, Portugal; Trnava, Slovakia; Uzhorod, Ukraine; Yantai, China & Yoshkar-Ola, Russia.
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Savaria appears in Total War: Attila as a Roman settlement in Pannonia.