A medieval water channel runs through the Mulln district and disappears beneath the Altstadt, carrying water diverted from the Almbach river. Most visitors walk across it without registering that it exists, let alone that it is artificial and over 700 years old.
The Story
The Almkanal was dug to put water to work. The channel drew from the Almbach, a tributary of the Salzach River, and directed it through the districts west of the city centre to power mills: grain mills, paper mills, fulling mills. Medieval Salzburg ran in part on this water. The channel also reportedly supplied cooling water to the beer cellars of the Mulln district, including the operations associated with what is now the Augustiner Braustuebl Muelln.
The canal still flows. It is most visible and audible in Mulln, where it runs at street level alongside the roads before going underground as it approaches the denser Altstadt fabric. The water is clear and fast-moving, and for much of its visible length it looks exactly like a natural stream. That is the point of interest: the infrastructure is so old and so embedded in the urban fabric that it has been naturalised.
In winters cold enough to freeze the channel's slower sections, locals have been known to skate on it. Whether this happens in a given year depends on conditions, but it is the kind of detail that separates the city's texture from its postcard version.
Visiting
- Address: Most visible along Müllner Hauptstraße and surrounding streets in the Mulln district
- Cost: free; always accessible
- Duration: 15-30 minutes to explore the visible sections
- Getting there: Walk from the Altstadt across the Staatsbrücke and north along the river, then west into Mulln.
- Tips: Combine with Augustiner Braustuebl Muelln nearby. Look for the channel running alongside the road. In a cold winter, sections may freeze.