Königswinter is a town and summer resort in the Rhein-Sieg district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, with approximatly 40,000 inhabitants. It is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, opposite to Bonn, at the foot of the Siebengebirge and the Petersberg, which hosts the Federal Guesthouse on Petersberg where several national and international governmental events and conferences took and still take place.
The romantic Drachenfels, crowned by the ruins of a castle built in the early 12th century by the archbishop of Cologne, rises behind the town. From the summit, which can be accessed by the Drachenfels Railway, there is a magnificent view, celebrated by Lord Byron in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage.
A cave in the hill is said to have sheltered the dragon (German: Drachen) which was slain by the hero Siegfried. The mountain is quarried, and from 1267 onward supplied stone (trachyte) for the building of Cologne Cathedral.
The Drachenburg Palace, built in 1883, is on the north side of the hill. Königswinter has a Catholic (St. Remigius) and an Evangelical church, some small manufactures and a little shipping. It has a monument to the poet Wolfgang Müller. Near the town are the ruins of the Abbey of Heisterbach.
[caption id="attachment_247892" align="aligncenter" width="442"] Sir William Wallace by David of Buchan[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Sir William Wallace (Scottish Gaelic: Uilleam Uallas, Norman French: William le Waleys) was a Scottish k...
