Győr-Moson-Sopron

Győr, on the Rába River

Győr-Moson-Sopron, megye (county), northwestern Hungary. It is bordered by Austria and Slovakia to the north and the counties of Komárom-Esztergom to the east and Vas and Veszprém to the south. Győr is the county seat. Principal towns also include Sopron, Mosonmagyaróvár, and Kapuvár.

The landscape is dominated by the Little Alfold (Little Hungarian Plain, or Kisalföld). Győr-Moson-Sopron contains some of the country’s richest farmland, supporting the cultivation of sugar beets and apricots as well as the raising of livestock. In the west-central part of the county is the Hanság, a region of swamps and moorland, partly drained and recovered through canalization. The Sopron Hills in the western part of the county are known for wine making. Between the Danube’s main channel and the Moson arm is the Szigetköz, a low-lying watery flatland with scattered villages that is noted for fishing and wildfowl.

auto workers, Győr, Hungary

The county’s principal industries are the manufacture of automobiles, rubber, plastics, and construction materials, along with food processing, metal processing, and metallurgy. West Hungary (Sopron) University is located in Sopron. On a northern spur of the Bakony Mountains, just southeast of Győr, is Pannonhalma Apátság, a Benedictine abbey founded in 969 by Prince Géza and chartered by Stephen I in 1001. Its 300,000-volume library includes the finest medieval archives in Hungary. The abbey was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1996. The powerful Esterházy family built a palace at Fertőd in the 1760s. The palace, a popular tourist attraction, hosts an annual music festival that celebrates the works of Joseph Haydn, who served as court musical director in the late 18th century. Area 1,579 square miles (4,089 square km). Pop. (2011) 447,985; (2017 est.) 457,344.