Send Gift Baskets to Murska Sobota, Slovenia

Murska Sobota is the official name of the town, although its residents refer to it informally as Sobota and those from other parts of Slovenia as Murska. A written record of the settlement first appeared in 1297 as Belmura (and again in 1348 and 1366 as Murazombatha and Murazumbota). Traditionally, the town is called Olsnitz, which comes from the old Slovene name Olšnica. Since 1919, the city has been known by the Slovene name Muraszombat, a translation of its original Hungarian title. As a result of the town’s tradition of holding fairs on Saturday every week, szombat means “Saturday” in Hungarian. In the Kingdom of Hungary, Murska Sobota was a district town (Hungarian: járás) of Vas County. During World War II, Hungary annexed Prekmurje and most of Prekmurje. In May 1945, Soviet troops captured it after Nazi Germans occupied it between 1944 and 1945. Before the Treaty of Karlowitz, it was also part of the Balaton Sanjak under Ottoman Turkey, which the Budin Eyalet initially owned, then by the Kanije Eyalet.