Burgenland is the easternmost and least populous state of Austria. It consists of two statutory cities and seven rural districts, with a total of 171 municipalities. It is 166 km (103 mi) long from north to south but much narrower from west to east (5 km (3.1 mi) wide at Sieggraben). The region is part of the Centrope Project. Burgenland is the third-smallest of Austria’s nine states, or Bundesländer, at 3,962 km² (1,530 sq mi). The highest point in the province is exactly on the border with Hungary, on the Geschriebenstein, 884 metres (2,900 ft) above sea level. The highest point entirely within Burgenland is 879 metres above sea level; the lowest point (which is also the lowest point of Austria) at 114 metres (374 ft), is in the municipal area of Apetlon.
Burgenland borders the Austrian state of Styria to the southwest, and the state of Lower Austria to the northwest. To the east it borders Hungary (Vas County and Győr-Moson-Sopron County). In the extreme north and south there are short borders with Slovakia (Bratislava Region) and Slovenia (Mura Statistical Region) respectively. Burgenland and Hungary share the Lake Neusiedl, a lake known for its reeds and shallowness, as well as its mild climate throughout the year. The Neusiedler See is Austria’s largest lake, and is a great tourist attraction, bringing ornithologists, sailors, and wind and kite surfers into the region north of the lake.
In addition to Germans, Croats and Hungarians, Burgenland used to have substantial Roma and Jewish populations, but these were wiped out by the Nazi regime. Before their deportation during 1938, the traditionally very religious Burgenland Jews were concentrated in the famous “Seven Communities” (Siebengemeinden/Sheva kehillot) in Eisenstadt, Mattersburg, Kittsee, Frauenkirchen, Kobersdorf, Lackenbach and Deutschkreutz, where they formed a substantial part of the population: e.g. in Lackenbach, 62% of the population was Jewish as of 1869. After the war, Jews from Burgenland founded the Jerusalem haredi neighbourhood of Kiryat Mattersdorf, reminding of the original name of Mattersburg, once a centre of a famous yeshiva.
The cultural offerings are diverse and especially in the summer famous for the Seefestspiele Mörbisch and the Nova Rock Festival with numerous international rockbands. The permanent exhibition at Forchtenstein Castle shows an impressive collection of the dukes of Esterházy, at whose court at Esterházy Palace worked the world-famous musician Joseph Haydn, who composed from the Burgenland Croatian folk-song “V jutro rano se ja stanem” (“In the morning I rise up early”) the melody of “Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser” (“God save Franz the Emperor”), which became the melody of today’s national anthem of Germany. There are also cultural events organized by the minorities such as Croatian or Hungarian folk evenings. The dialect spoken in Burgenland is called Hianzisch.
