In a nutshell – expect this here.
The Königsgässchen or “King’s alley” is actually not named after a king. In fact Salzburg never had a royal king. The alley’s name goes back to a much darker and more down-to-earth history. In the Midle Ages, it was the so called “King of the Night” who lent his name to that small street.
Where can you find this place?
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The full story of the Night King in Salzburg
In the Middle Ages, the city wall of the first fortification ended exactly along the Königsgässchen alley with a large trench behind it. You could say it was the end of the Salzburg world and as it ha always been, this would be the place where you would find those, ignored and blanked out by the society. This alley still gives an idea of the narrowness of the dwellings in a medieval town and especially poor people’s quarter.
So clearly it was not a ruler that gave its name to that place, but a so-called “night king” The Night King lived and worked here. His task was it to clean the streets from garbage. Even worse, he also had to clean out the foul-smelling “seizure pits” every night. These were septic collection basins filled with the residents’ excrements, trash, and rotting kitchen scraps. This little respected and badly paid profession could only finance a lodging in this alley.
Forage for further odd places in Salzburg
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