As an American, I don't really have an idea of what life was like for people living through the Middle ages. Old architecture in America is mostly from the 1800's. I just loved seeing the dates of these old houses from the 13th century or earlier, but mostly from the 15th-17th centuries
By the 1970's, tourism had grown in German so much, that many towns wanted to get their piece of the action as well the revenues. So in Hann Munden, they decided to break off the old plaster covering up the 700+ half-timbered houses in their little town. That did it. They now boast the most and best preserved half-timbered buildings in all of Germany. (It helped that Munden did not get bombed during WWII.)