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 the federal city, Bonn, at the foot of the Siebengebirge.
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Tourism started in the
Koenigswinter area in the last decades of the 18th century with travellers from England following a route up the
river Rhine. The romantic wave of the late 18th century had a strong impact on all kinds of art. This wave resulted in a glorification of the
Siebengebirge in paintings, drawings and travel reports, making the Siebengebirge one of the most popular tourist attractions of this time.
The romantic Drachenfels (1010 ft.), crowned by the ruins of a castle built early in the 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 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 castle of Drachenburg, built in 1883, is on the north side of the hill.
Koenigswinter has a Roman Catholic (St. Remigius) and an Evangelical church, some small manufactures and a little shipping. It has a monument to the poet Wolfgang ueüller. Near the town are the ruins of the
Abbey of Heisterbach.
