Freistadt

Freistadt sat on the salt road north into Bohemia and held staple rights on the traffic, which paid for the fortifications: a double ring of walls with a moat between them, gates, and towers, surviving more completely than almost anywhere else in Austria, enclosing a rectangular square and a grid of lanes. The Bergfried tower holds the Mühlviertel museum. The brewery is the other distinctive institution: the Braucommune in Freistadt is owned not by a company or a family but collectively by the owners of the 149 houses in the old town that held brewing rights, a structure dating from 1770 that has no parallel in Austria - buy one of those houses and you own a share of the brewery. Tours run and the beer is sold across the region.

History

The area came under the Duchy of Bavaria in the 7th century, and Freistadt was founded before 1220; the Babenberg duke Leopold VI passed through in 1225, the name appears as Frienstat in 1241 and as Vreinstat in a document of Rudolf of Habsburg in 1277. The town stood between the Habsburg and Bohemian lands at a crossing of the salt and iron trade route, in use since prehistoric times, and its outer and inner walls, towers and gates, built mainly between 1363 and 1393, still stand (Wikipedia, Freistadt).

What's there

• A double town wall - two rings with a moat between, largely complete.
• A collectively owned brewery - shares held by 149 old-town houses since 1770.
• The Bergfried - the tower holding the Mühlviertel museum.
• A medieval grid - the square and lanes inside the fortifications.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Practical notes

The town is small - two or three hours covers it. Museum and brewery tours have set times and seasonal hours. Public transport from Linz is bus rather than rail for most services.

Nearby

Kefermarkt and its altarpiece are south; the Czech border is north.

Key facts