Scharding

Schärding stands on the Inn opposite Bavaria and belonged to Bavaria itself until 1779, which shows in the architecture: the Silberzeile, a row of tall gabled baroque houses along the main square, is Inn-Salzach style, with flat parapets hiding the roofs behind them in the manner of Braunau, Burghausen and Passau rather than anything further east. The houses are painted in strong distinct colours, and the tradition holds that the shades once indicated the trade of the occupant - butcher, baker and so on - which is repeated on every tour and is probably part fact and part later tidying of a custom. The town has gates, walls, a water tower and a Kneipp spa; Sebastian Kneipp's cold-water cure has a long association here.

History

People have lived here since the Neolithic, the area was part of Roman Noricum, and Bavarians settled it about 30 years after Odoacer withdrew his troops around 488, the name Scardinga coming from a man called Skardo and his family. Schärding is first recorded in 806 as a farm of Passau, it was the centre of the county of the Counts of Formbach-Neuburg from the 10th century, of the Counts of Andechs from 1160 and of the Wittelsbachs from 1248, and it grew rich on Inn trade in salt, timber, ore, wine, silk, glass, grain, cloth and cattle, gaining market rights at the end of the 13th century. It passed to Rudolf IV of Habsburg on 24 September 1364 and back to Bavaria after the peace of Schärding in 1369, its walls and gates were built between 1429 and 1436, and it stayed Bavarian until 1779 (Wikipedia, Schärding).

What's there

• The Silberzeile - the row of gabled baroque houses along the square.
• Trade-coded colours - the painted façades and the story attached to them.
• Inn-Salzach architecture - flat parapets hiding the roofs, a Bavarian form.
• Gates and walls - fragments of the fortifications above the Inn.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Practical notes

Small - two hours covers the centre. The colour-by-trade story is tradition rather than documented fact. Passau across the border is the larger draw and pulls day traffic through.

Nearby

Passau is downstream in Germany; Engelszell Abbey and the Danube are east.

Key facts