Burg Drachenfels, Medieval castle ruins in Königswinter, Germany

Burg Drachenfels is a castle ruin in Königswinter that rises steeply above the Rhine valley within the Siebengebirge mountains. The stone walls and fortification remains shape the landscape and are visible from various directions.

Archbishop Arnold I of Cologne began the castle in 1138; in 1149 he sold the unfinished site to Gerhard von Are, provost of St. Cassius in Bonn, who completed it. Swedish troops took it in 1632 and Spanish forces retook it the next year. In 1634 Elector Ferdinand ordered the outer works demolished, and the castle was never repaired.

The name Drachenfels, "dragon rock", comes from the trachyte crag and the cave beneath the castle, which legend gives to a dragon. The trachyte quarries made the castle's burgraves wealthy; Godart von Drachenfels supplied stone for Cologne Cathedral. The main line of the burgraves died out in 1530 with Heinrich von Drachenfels, whose grave slab is now in St. Mariä Heimsuchung in Bad Honnef.

Access to the ruins is easy via the historic Drachenfels Railway, which has run from Königswinter station since 1883. Alternatively, hikers can use the trails that wind through forested slopes to reach the summit.

The stone used in the castle, called trachyte, was extracted for centuries in quarries below the fortress and used for major building projects. A significant portion of the stone for Cologne Cathedral came from these deposits.