Burgenland

For the Saxony-Anhalt district (Germany), see Burgenland district.

Burgenland (pronunciation: Búrguenlant; «country of castles») is a federal state of Austria. The state capital is Eisenstadt. It is the easternmost of the nine federal states of Austria and the least populated. Its territory corresponds to the area ceded by the Kingdom of Hungary to the newly created Republic of Austria under the Treaty of Trianon. In 1921 the territory was annexed and received the legal name of "Burgenland" under the Federal Law of January 24, 1921.

Burgenland is bordered to the north by the city of Bratislava (Slovakia), to the east by the counties of Györ-Moson-Sopron and Vas (both in Hungary), to the south for a few kilometers by the municipalities of Kuzma (Croatia) and Rogašovci (Slovenia) and to the west with the Austrian federal states of Styria and Lower Austria. The borders with the mentioned countries constituted, until December 21, 2007, 397 km of the external border of the Schengen area of the EU.

The state of Burgenland stretches from Lake Neusiedl in the north to the foothills of the Alps in the south. It has an elongated north-south shape and narrows to a width of 4 km at Sieggraben. Burgenland is a member of the Centrope Euroregion.

Geography

Burgenlad has an area of 3,965.2 km² and borders 397 km, mostly with Hungary and to a lesser extent with Slovenia and Slovakia.

The highest point in Burgenland is Geschriebenstein Hill, on the border with Hungary and whose peak rises 884 meters above sea level. The lowest point is the Hedwighof, in the municipality of Apetlon (District of Neusiedl am See), at 114 m. The lowest locality is Illmitz, at 116 m.

The most central point of Burgenland, at coordinates 47° 28′ 41.2″ N, 16° 34′ 17.8″ E, is located in Unterpullendorf (municipality of Frankenau-Unterpullendorf) and is marked with a stone basaltic

Burgenland is divided into three natural regions: North, Central and South.

Rivers

The Leita River forms the natural border with Lower Austria. Other notable rivers are the Raba, the Pinka and the Wulka. The river Zöbern flows into the Güns (a tributary of the Raba).

Climate

The climate is Illyrian in South Burgenland and Pannonian in the rest of the state, according to local climatic divisions. In the northern half of the state there is a greater presence of the continental climate. Temperatures range from -2°C to -4°C in January to 21°C in July.

The highest temperature recorded in Burgenland is 40.3 °C in Neusiedl am See on August 8, 2013.

Protected areas

Notable is the Lake Neusiedl National Park, included in 2001 in the World Heritage Site "Cultural Landscape of Fertö/Neusiedlersee" by UNESCO.

There are also in Burgenland:

• 29 natural landscapes
• 8 protected landscapes
• 15 natural sites included in the Europe Network 2000
• 6 national parks (Weinidylle, Raab-cultrség-Goričko, Rosalia-Kogelberg, Neusiedler See–Leithagebirge, Geschriebenstein-Írotkő and Landseer Berge)

Politics

As a federal state, Burgenland has as its main institutions its state parliament (Landestag), state government (Landesregierung) and Governor (Landeshauptmann).

The Burgenland state parliament has 36 seats, which after the 2020 elections are distributed as follows:

2020 Burgenland Elections
Party	Votes	%	Scalls	+/-
SPÖ	92.634	49.94	19	4
ÖVP	56.726	30.58	11
FPÖ	18.161	9,797	4	2
GRÜNE	12.466	6.72	2

After the 2020 elections, both the speaker of the Burgenland state parliament, Verena Dunst, and the governor, Hans Peter Doskozil, belong to the SPÖ.

Burgenland is entitled to three seats in the Federal Council (Bundesrat) of Austria, of which currently two councilors are from the SPÖ and one from the ÖVP.

Administrative division

Statutarstädte (Statutarstädte)

• Eisenstadt
• Rust

Districts

Districts of Burgenland

Municipalities

The state has 171 municipalities (counted with the statutory cities). Apart from German (the official language of all of Austria), Croatian and Hungarian are official languages of the state, the only officially trilingual one in the country.

Economy and infrastructures

Burgenland is primarily a wine-growing region, next to Lower Austria. Its 13,000 hectares of vineyards are divided into the following areas:

• Neusiedler See (6,675 ha)
• Leithaberg (3,097 ha)
• Rosalia (297 ha)
• Mittelburgenland (2,104 ha)
• Eisenberg (515 ha)