HISTORY
Győr has always played a significant role in the life of the region. The first large settlement here was established by the Celts during the Vth century BC. They called the town Arrabona, a name that was used for eight centuries and the abbreviation of which is still used in the German (Raab) and Slovak (Ráb) name of the city.

Roman merchants appeared in Arrabona during the 1st century BC and around 10 A.D. the Roman army occupied the northern part of Western Hungary, which they called Pannonia province. Although the Romans abandoned the area in the Vth century due to regular raids by Germanic and Hun tribes, the town still remained inhabited.

During the following centuries Slavic, Lombard, Avar and Frank tribes raided and settled in the area. Between 880 and 894 the territory was part of Great Moravia, and then briefly fell under East Frankish dominance.

The Magyars occupied the town around 900 and fortified the abandoned Roman fortress. Stephen I, the first king of Hungary, founded an episcopate and built a basilica here. Győr became the seat of the comitatus, the newly established administrative unit equivalent to a county. The town received its Hungarian name Győr in the Middle Ages.

Due to its favourable location it became a commercial centre and an important port on the Danube. The city, however, could not spare itself from the calamities of history: it was occupied by Mongols during the Mongol invasion of Hungary (1241–1242) and then was destroyed by the Czech army in 1271 to be finally reconquered by Ladislaus IV.

After the Mongol invasion, the castle was rebuilt of stone and fortified and was declared an estate of the bishop. It was then that the castle was named Püspökvár (Bishop’s castle).

This was followed by a troubled period when the commandants of the castle ruled during a period of about 200 years. In 1403 the troops of King Sigismund attacked the castle as part of a revenge of a conspiracy hatched by Bishop Hédervári.

In 1440, Győr became a royal seat as Queen Elizabeth seized the crown for her minor child and appointed Győr as her seat. This was the first time for the crown to be brought to Győr.