Königswinter

Königswinter
Königswinter
Town
	Front of St. Remigius Roman Catholic Church (May 2009)
	Coat of arms
	Location of Königswinter within Rhein-Sieg-Kreis district
	Königswinter Königswinter
	Coordinates: 50°40′25″N 7°11′41″E / 50.67361°N 7.19472°E
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region	Köln
District	Rhein-Sieg-Kreis
Government
• Mayor (2020–25)	Lutz Wagner
Area
• Total	76.19 km2 (29.42 sq mi)
Highest elevation	460 m (1,510 ft)
Lowest elevation	51 m (167 ft)
Population (2023-12-31)
• Total	41,642
• Density	550/km2 (1,400/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	53639
Dialling codes	02223, 02242, 02244, 0228
Vehicle registration	SU
Website	www.koenigswinter.de

Königswinter (Kölsch: Köningkswinte; Low Franconian: Keuningswintjer) is a town and summer resort in the Rhein-Sieg district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

Geography

Königswinter is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, opposite Bad Godesberg, at the foot of the Siebengebirge. It covers an area of 76.19 square kilometres which makes it the fourth-largest conurbation in the Rhein-Sieg district. It contains over 80 townships and boroughs, divided over the municipal districts of Stieldorf, Niederdollendorf, Oberdollendorf, Heisterbacherrott, Ittenbach, Oberpleis, Eudenbach, Thomasberg and Königswinter proper.

Main sights

Drachenfels

The 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 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

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 destroyed 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

Königswinter has a Catholic (St Remigius) and a Protestant church, some small manufactures and a little shipping. It has a monument to the poet Wolfgang Müller.

Transport

The town is served by Königswinter and Niederdollendorf stations 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 direct with either of these lines but instead relies on a steam-outline road train for connection to the town centre and stations.^[3]

Several ferries cross the Rhine between Königswinter and Bad Godesberg on the west bank.

Twin towns – sister cities

Königswinter is twinned with:^[4]

Cleethorpes, United Kingdom
Cognac, France

Gallery

Lithography of St. Remigius (August Karstein, 1850)
Homes in Königswinter
Königswinter town hall
Königswinter viewed from the Drachenfels

References

^ Wahlergebnisse in NRW Kommunalwahlen 2020, Land Nordrhein-Westfalen, accessed 29 June 2021.
^ "Bevölkerung der Gemeinden Nordrhein-Westfalens am 31. Dezember 2023 – Fortschreibung des Bevölkerungsstandes auf Basis des Zensus vom 9. Mai 2011" (in German). Landesbetrieb Information und Technik NRW. Retrieved 2024-06-20.
^ "Drachenfelsbahn Königswinter". Drachenfelsbahn Königswinter. Archived from the original on 2015-03-16. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
^ "Städtepartnerschaften Königswinter". koenigswinter.de (in German). Königswinter. Retrieved 2021-02-16.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Königswinter". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 896.