In addition to the imposing castle complex, it is the heart of the city of Burghausen - the old town. The house facades on the town square shine happily with their different pastel tones. Each building is designed differently, the gables are horizontal, triangular, stepped or curved, depending on the preference of the building owner and the stylistic epoch. All this gives the houses in Burghausen's old town an imposing stately appearance. This so-called Inn-Salzach construction method developed in the late Middle Ages between Innsbruck, Hallein and Passau along the Inn and Salzach.
Repeated fire disasters in the trading towns located there made people look for a construction method that could withstand the flames. At that time, people built a lot of wood, for example on the facades or the roofs, which were covered with wooden shingles. The open hearths inside the houses were also permanent sources of danger for house fires. Two fires raged in Burghausen in 1353 and 1504.
With the Inn-Salzach construction method, people combined the needs of a trading and handicraft house with the requirements of firefighting in a unique way. The Inn-Salzach architectural style was therefore characterized by various features: advance walls, ditch roofs, fire alleys, a closed construction method and colorful pastel-colored house facades.
The floor plan of the houses is divided into a front building, courtyard and rear building. The premises at the front were used by the residents of Burghausen at the time for shops and workshops. Their living quarters, including the kitchen, were always on the upper floors of the buildings. In order to prevent the flames from spreading in the event of a fire, people secured the dividing walls of the individual houses with surrounding advance walls as a "fire coat". Several roofs of the Inn-Salzach houses are folded in the shape of a ditch, which visitors can see particularly well from the castle. The front of the building always protrudes far beyond the roof as a blind facade, thus enabling people to safely lean fire escapes against the facades.
Anyone who strolls through Burghausen's town square and enjoys the colorful and imposing houses quickly recognizes that Burghausen's old town is a magnificent example of the Inn-Salzach architectural style.
“Burghausen's late-Gothic townscape reflects the economic position that it developed in the Middle Ages and in the early modern period as an important trading center. The city represents a unique symbiosis of the riverside location, the rich trading tradition and the innovative Inn-Salzach architecture.”
Evi Gilch, city archivist Burghausen