Burghausen, Altötting

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Burghausen is the largest city in the Altötting district of Oberbayern in Germany. It is situated on the Salzach river, near the border with Austria. Its castle, atop a ridge, is the longest castle in Europe (1,043 meters).

Geography

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[edit] History

Burghausen was founded on the banks of the Salzach river, probably between the 6th and 8th centuries. It was a toll station for the castle, enduring until the 16th century, Europe's longest castle enterprise.

The first documentary mention of Burghausen was in the year 1025, when it was listed as royal property. Later, Emperor Konrad II installed the Count of Burghausen to administer the financial affairs.

In 1164, Duke Henry the Lion took possession of the castle.

The Wittelsbachs took possession of the castle in 1180 and the surrounding valley settlements in 1229. ­ Starting in 1255, after the first division of Bavaria, Burghausen took a political and economic upswing as the second Residenz of the lower Bavarian dukes.

Its main source of income was the trade in salt from Hallein, (modern-day Austria), which was brought ashore in Burghausen and transported further on land. The landing spot is occupied by the Mautner castle, now the city's seminar building, which is used for the adult education "Volkshochschule", with classes in photography, jazz and handcrafts.

In 1307, the pre-existing town law was codified as town privileges. In the first half of the 14th century, Emperor Louis IV granted the town further important privileges. In the end of the 14th century, Burghausen became an administrative center as a revenue office.

Under the last three Lower Bavarian dukes, Henry XVI the Rich (1393-1450), Louis IX the Rich (1450-1479) and George the Rich, (1479-1503), Burghausen experienced growth and served as the second capital of Bavaria.

In 1505, after the Landshut War of Succession, Burghausen provided one of the four revenue offices in reorganized Bavaria.

In 1594, the income from the salt trade was lost due to the establishment of the ducal salt monopoly.

Burghausen experienced more than 300 years of administrative and commercial decline, as follows:

• Heavy casualties and losses in the Thirty Years' War (1618-48), the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-14) and the War of the Bavarian Succession (1778-79).

• Burghausen suffered from the transfer of the Innviertel in the Treaty of Teschen at the end of the War of the Bavarian Succession, and the consequent loss of business from the border region.

• The crisis caused by the French Revolutionary Wars and dissolution of government in 1802.

• In 1807, the loss of the title of "capital" which had been granted in 1688.

• The institution of river shipping and the loss of the garrison in 1891.

By the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th, Burghausen became an impoverished and backward provincial town with barely 2,500 inhabitants.

In 1915, an economic upswing began with the establishment of Wacker Chemical Enterprises, Inc.

• The new city has developed alongside the old town, with a unity of design, reorganization and increased security from the construction of the flood control dam and the Uferstraße from 1969-71.

• Expansion of Wacker Chemical Enterprises, Inc. In 1966, the Deutsche Marathon built a refinery (now OMV).

• The population has increased from 2,500 in 1910 and 5,000 in 1946 to 19,000 (2005).

• Burghausen became regionally known because of the SV Wacker Burghausen Soccer Sports Association and the annual international jazz festival.

• In 2004, the National Horticultural Show received its one millionth visitor.

• In the winter of 2005-2006, the town gave Christmas presents to all of its unemployment recipients, gaining nationwide attention in all news media, including the Bild tabloid newspaper.

Coordinates: 48°10′N, 12°50′E