Viel Spaß beim Entdecken!
More information about the historyWhere does truth end and fiction start? Supposedly, the early death of the innkeeper’s daughter Maria Riegel from the nearby “Burghof” inn inspired the poet Ludwig Uhland to write the poem “Three Students”. It was a memorial to his lover – or so the story goes. In actual fact, Maria Riegel was only nine years old at the time the poem was written but the fascination with the legend behind the popular Uhland lyrics was too strong. Its setting at the castle inn became an established fact. Maria Riegel’s grave can still be seen at the Königswinter cemetery to this day.
Image: Former sign for the “three students’ tree”, a curiously-shaped tree with three trunks in the garden of the “Burghof” inn. Siebengebirgsmuseum
Image: Postcard, “Burghof” inn (1910)
In 1904, the Burghof Hotel was redesigned in dignified country house style, with the aim of exuding an old German, cosy guest house feel – with decorative half timbering and a converted loft including gables and dormers. Inside the building, a painting with the text of the Uhland poem covered a whole wall. The image was used in the years to come for advertising and as a design for postcards. However, it has been deemed lost since 1989. From 1989, the castle inn stood empty. It became a listed building in 1997 and was bought by a businessman from Bonn in 2016.
Image: Stephan von Sarter, 1858, Drachenburg castle
Baron Stephan von Sarter, who had Drachenburg castle built, viewed it as “a centre of German art, in whose magnificent rooms artists have created a unique monument to the legends, history and beauty of the Rhine”. Completed in just three years, the grand villa was to be found in every guidebook of the Rhine from 1886 onwards, even though it was not open to visitors.
Image: Postcard, “north side” (1906, detail)
In accordance with the plans of the patron, who was just as ambitious as he was rich, the exterior was to fit in perfectly with the contemporary, historicist architectural style which was popular at the time – and was also to reflect concepts such as belief in progress, patriotism and the educated middle classes. For example, on the northern tower, shown in the picture, were the figures of four great names in German art who had a link with local history, including the first master builder of Cologne Cathedral, Gerhard Rile.
Image: Mural from the Nibelungen room, lithograph, around 1904, Drachenburg castle
The artistic design of the interiors also bore reference to the Rhine landscape and its history. The building’s show piece, the Nibelungen room, resembled a salon and depicted important scenes from the Nibelungenlied – such as the dispute between the queens in front of Worms Cathedral as shown here.
In the outer bailey, the Deutsches Museum für Naturschutzgeschichte (a museum devoted to the history of German nature conservation) shows the major developments of the social nature conservation movement.
PracticalDeutsches Museum für Naturschutzgeschichte
Tue–Fri 2 PM–5 PM, Sat 2 PM–6 PM, Sun 11 AM–6 PM, Mondays closed > Website
Schloss Drachenburg
Tue–Fri 2 PM–5 PM, Sat 2 PM–6 PM, Sun 11 AM–6 PM, Mondays closed > Website
Siebengebirgsmuseum Königswinter, Kellerstraße 16
Tue–Fri 2 PM–5 PM, Sat 2 PM–6 PM, Sun 11 AM–6 PM, Mondays closed > Website