Kaposvár

Kaposvár (ˈkɒpoʃvaːr; also known by other alternative names) is a city with county rights in the southwestern part of Hungary, south of Lake Balaton. It is one of the leading cities of Transdanubia, the capital of Somogy County, and the seat of the Kaposvár District and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kaposvár. The name Kaposvár is derived from the Hungarian words kapu (gate) and vár (castle). Variants of the city's name include Ruppertsburg / Ruppertsberg / Kopisch (German), Kapoşvar (Turkish), Rupertgrad (Slovene), and Kapošvar (Croatian). The shield of Kaposvár features a castle with a rounded arch port surmounted by three battlements with loopholes on a hill of green grass. The flag of Kaposvár consists of the coat of arms placed over a yellow background. Kaposvár is surrounded by the hills of the outer Somogy area around the Kapos river and the forests of Zselic. It lies southwest of Budapest. Historically, Kaposvár was a crossroads for trade which arrived by the Kapos river. The river also posed a hazard to the river valley region, and flood defense mechanisms were constructed to reduce the threat. Today, the city is a growing junction for railways and other transportation, such as the European Railway line from Budapest towards the Mediterranean Sea. According to legend, the area of Kaposvár has been inhabited since around 5,000 BCE and the city itself was founded on seven hills. By around 400 BCE, Celtic tribes populated most of the area. From around 9 AD to 433 AD, it was a part of the Roman province of Pannonia. After the Roman withdrawal, tribes of Germans, Illyrians, and other groups inhabited the area. By 900 AD, there were Slavic and German villages in the area. The name of the settlement was first recorded in 1009 as Kapos in Saint Stephen's memorandum of association, which established the borders of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pécs. In 1061, Atha, the lord lieutenant of Somogy, founded a Benedictine monastery in the settlement. The first castle in Kapos was built in the 1200s by King Béla IV in response to the Mongol invasion of Hungary.