Wassertor (Water Archway) - Stadtmauer (City Wall)

As you walk along Theatergasse toward the Inn, on one side you pass the rear buildings of the town square, which, in the days of the farming burghers, served as stables, barns, and servants’ quarters. On the other side, these buildings are flanked by the Protestant church and the municipal theater. However, we walk through the former Hundsgraben, which gets deeper as we go, toward the Wassertor. After passing through this gate, you find yourself on the banks of the Inn and in front of the mighty walls of the former city fortifications. Walking upstream, after about a hundred meters you reach the mouth of the Enkna and walk along the city wall. These walls, about nine meters high, were erected around 1620, when the Swedes had already advanced as far as Mühldorf and Braunau also felt threatened. These walls were reinforced with half-bastions during the construction of the bastion fortress (1672–76) and were not allowed to be demolished even when the fortress was razed in 1808, because otherwise the Old Town houses would have slid down the slope. The wall still bears witness today to the defensive strength of Braunau’s fortress. After walking this short distance, if you climb the steps of the Dr. Kriechbaum Staircase, you’ll find yourself facing the large parish church of St. Stephen and back in the heart of the Old Town.