Königswinter
Front of St. Remigius (2009)
Königswinter
Location of the town of Königswinter within Rhein-Sieg-Kreis district
Coordinates	50°40′25″N 7°11′41″E / 50.67361°N 7.19472°E / 50.67361; 7.19472Coordinates: 50°40′25″N 7°11′41″E / 50.67361°N 7.19472°E / 50.67361; 7.19472
Administration
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region	Cologne
District	Rhein-Sieg-Kreis
Mayor	Peter Wirtz (CDU)
Basic statistics
Area	76.19 km2 (29.42 sq mi)
Elevation	51 - 460 m
Population	40,771 (31 December 2010)[1]
- Density	535 /km2 (1,386 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	SU
Postal code	53639
Area codes	02223, 02244
Website	www.koenigswinter.de

Königswinter is a town and summer resort in the Rhein-Sieg district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, opposite to Bonn, at the foot of the Siebengebirge.

Main sights[link]

Drachenfels[link]

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 Schloss Drachenburg, built in 1883, is on the north side of the hill.

Petersberg and Heisterbach[link]

The Petersberg mountain also overlooks Königswinter. This was formerly the home of an Augustinian and, later, Cistercian monastery. Around 1195 the monks moved to the foot of the mountain and founded the Abbey of Heisterbach, which was suppressed in 1803. The ruins can still be seen.

Today the peak of the Petersberg is occupied by the Hotel Petersberg, a grand hotel which serves as a guest house for the German Government. Many world leaders have stayed there, and conferences are regularly held. Like the Drachenfels, the Petersberg was once served by its own railway, the Petersberg Railway, but this closed in 1958 and the hotel is now reached by road or helicopter.

The town[link]

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.

Transport[link]

The town is served by Köningswinter railway station, on the Rhine East Bank Railway between Cologne and Wiesbaden, as well as by several stops on line 66 of the Bonn Stadtbahn, which takes a different route through the town. The tourist oriented Drachenfels Railway does not connect directly with either of these lines, but instead relies on a steam-outline road train to links it with the town centre and stations.^[2]

Several ferries cross the Rhine between Köningswinter and the west bank.

International relations[link]

Königswinter is twinned with:

• Cleethorpes, United Kingdom
• Cognac, France.

Gallery[link]

• 

  Lithography of St. Remigius (August Karstein, 1850).

• 

  Homes in Königswinter.

• 

  Townhall in Königswinter.

References[link]

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Königswinter

• Official site (German)
• View at Terraserver

v t e Towns and municipalities in Rhein-Sieg-Kreis Alfter Bad Honnef Bornheim Eitorf Hennef (Sieg) Königswinter Lohmar Meckenheim Much Neunkirchen-Seelscheid Niederkassel Rheinbach Ruppichteroth Sankt Augustin Siegburg Swisttal Troisdorf Wachtberg Windeck