Oberwart (German pronunciation: [ˈoːbɐˌvaʁt] ⓘ; Hungarian: Felsőőr; Croatian: Gornja Borta) is a town in Burgenland in southeast Austria on the banks of the Pinka River, and the capital of the district of the same name.

Oberwart is the cultural capital of the small ethnic Hungarian minority in Burgenland, living in the Upper Őrség or Wart microregion.

[3] The settlement was established in the 11th century by the guards of the Hungarian frontier (őrs) together with Unterwart (Alsóőr) and Siget in der Wart (Őrisziget).

Old surnames and the special local dialect shows that the population was related to the Székelys of Transylvania (i.e. the guards of the eastern border of Kingdom of Hungary).

In the Age of Counter-Reformation, most of the region had to return to Roman Catholic faith, but the free noble village of Felsőőr remained Calvinist.

The villagers participated in the Hungarian national uprising of István Bocskay in 1605, and of Count Francis II Rákóczi in 1705.

Geographer Elek Fényes described the village in 1851 as an important and historically significant őr settlement: At that time, 41 noble families lived in Felső-Őr.

Some typical family names were: Ádám, Adorján, Albert, Andorkó, Balás, Bertha, Bertók, Fábián, Fülöp, Gál, Imre, Kázmér, Miklós, Orbán, Pál, Pongrácz, etc.

According to the Treaty of Trianon in 1920, Felsőőr was annexed by Austria, but the Hungarian population opposed the decision and organised a movement to establish the autonomous province of Lajtabánság.

In April 1945 the Red Army occupied Oberwart after a week of fierce fighting and plundered the half-destroyed town.

[7] Magyars lost their historical majority in Felsőőr/Oberwart but the town remained the most important Hungarian educational, religious and cultural centre in Burgenland.

The neighbourhood is the oldest part of the town with narrow lanes and more than one hundred old houses which are typical examples of the rural architecture of the Felső-Őrség.