Burghausen fortress

The special significance of Burghausen Castle derives from its historical importance as a sovereign castle belonging to the Bavarian Wittelsbachs and its architectural position as one of the most magnificent examples of late medieval fortifications.

The massive fortress was the country's most effective fortress and embodied the power and representative ambitions of the Bavarian dukes.

The Fortress of Burghausen is a castle on top of the hill above the homonymous old town of Burghausen, Germany, at a height of 420 m asl, with its 1051 m length is the "longest inhabited fortress in the world" according to the Guinness Book of Records. The construction of the fortified village with its castle dates back to before 1025.

Burghausen Castle consists of six fortified buildings built, with few exceptions, in travertine. Much of the buildings and character of the entire building complex date back to the times of the fortified residence of the Lower Bavarian dynastic line of the Wittelsbachs, especially from 1480 to 1503. Inside it houses the Staatsgemäldesammlung, a collection of paintings, porcelain, furniture and artifacts archaeological.

The complex is divided into five large courtyards, all originally protected by moats, shutters and drawbridges. With their fortified walls, gates and towers and service and residential buildings for court officials and craftsmen, they laid the foundation for the massive main castle clustered around an inner courtyard that crowns its southern tip.