Szombathely 6.6

Szombathely is the 10th largest city in Hungary. It is the administrative centre of Vas county in the west of the country, located near the border with Austria. Szombathely lies by the streams Perint and Gyöngyös (literally "pearly"), where the Alpokalja (Lower Alps) mountains meet the Little Hungarian Plain. The oldest city in Hungary, it is known as the birthplace of Saint Martin of Tours.Origins of nameThe 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.The Latin name Savaria or Sabaria comes from Sibaris, the Latin name for the stream Gyöngyös. The root of the word is the Proto-Indo-European word seu, meaning "wet". The Austrian reach of the stream is still called Zöbern, a variation of its Latin name. The city is known in Croatian as Sambotel, in Slovene as Sombotel and in סאמבאטהעלי).The German name, Steinamanger, means "stone on a field" (Stein am Anger)(Claudius' Colony of Savarians)(opened in 1793).In 1809, Napoleon's armies occupied the city and held it for 110 days, following a short battle on the main square. In 1817, two-thirds of the city was destroyed by fire. In 1813, a cholera epidemic claimed many lives.