Burg Stolberg

With its buildings, towers, enclosing walls and battlements, it is situated on a mighty limestone rock above the Vichtbach valley. The strong walls are so artfully anchored in the rock that the entire castle complex seems to have grown out of the rock. The castle complex, which dates back to the 12th century, is now mainly used as a venue for events and meetings. The upper floor houses the castle gallery, a spacious room where art exhibitions are regularly held. The middle floor with the knights' hall and bower serves as a venue for concerts and celebrations. Over the course of its long history, the castle has been destroyed and rebuilt several times. The excessive use of stylistic elements of historicism during the reconstruction of the heavily dilapidated castle around 1900 greatly altered the character of the complex. After further partial destruction during the Second World War, the castle was rebuilt in the 1950s as it had looked at the beginning of the 18th century, so that our Stolberg landmark is now back in a historically largely correct form. On the western side of the courtyard, between the main building and the round tower in front, a staircase leads down to the lower courtyard. Here, the modern industrial backdrop of the former Hammerfeld emerges, where a commercial and later an industrial site developed from its beginnings in the 15th century. The lower castle courtyard offers a view of the impressive bluestone formation of the castle rock with the castle perched on top. On the other side is the castle herb garden, which is located a little lower down and is also accessible. To the east is the defiant-looking gate castle with its picturesque inner courtyard. This building complex was built shortly after 1900 as part of a castle conversion. Despite its late construction, this partial ensemble does not appear as a foreign body, but contributes to the romantic flair of the overall complex. The gate castle houses a local history museum.

The castle grounds are accessible in the winter months Tue-Sun from 3 to 6 pm. The castle and the Torburg Museum are currently being renovated and are closed

(Implementation of the "castle concept", funded by the regional economic development program of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia - infrastructure guideline - using funds from the joint task "Improvement of the regional economic structure")