There are many cities with preserved town walls. Modern cities surrounded by an equally well-preserved moat are rarer. A fine example of such a combination forms the city wall and moat of Friesach, a place in the Austrian state of Carinthia. [German]
The city wall of Friesach
To depict the facts correctly, however, it must be said that the old town of Friesach borders a mountain on one of its two long sides. The city wall and moat only extend over the three remaining sides.
However, these parts are still impressive. With a length of around 820 meters, they encompass the core of the town of Friesach before ending in the rising flanks of the Virgilienberg and the Petersberg. The fortification consists of the actual town wall and a lower Zwinger wall.
The Bäckertauche
The photo shows the reconstruction of a baker’s dip (Bäckertauche). According to tradition, dishonest bakers were repeatedly dipped into the water of the city moat with it. In German, this punishment is also known under the term Bäckerschupfen. The shown tool works similarly to a ducking stool.