ヴェルスホーフェンの洞窟・トップ12

Blankenheim Castle is a castle complex above the municipality of Blankenheim in the Eifel. It was built as a hilltop castle around 1115 by Gerhard I and was the ancestral seat of the Blankenheim family.

Kreuzberg was first mentioned in a document in 893 in the Prüm Urbar as Cruceberg. Around 1100, the settlement came into the possession of the Counts of Are, who had a first house built on the Kreuzberg for one of their administrators.[5] Archbishop Konrad von Are-Hochstaden enfeoffed Kuno von Vischenich (also Cuno/Cono/Conz von Fischenich), knight and steward of the Archbishopric of Cologne, with Kreuzberg and allowed him to build a fortified castle on the mountain, the construction of which he supported financially. After the castle was completed, Kuno and his wife Guda gave the castle as a fief to the Archbishopric of Cologne in April 1343 and were enfeoffed with it in return.[5] Kreuzberg Castle was thus an open house of the Archbishops of Cologne in the following period.

The castle, originally built around 1343, was destroyed by the French around 1686 during the War of the Palatine Succession. The current castle was rebuilt on the same site around 1760. It has been privately owned by the Barons von Boeselager since 1820 and has not been open to the public since then. Source: https://www.kuladig.de/Objektansicht/O-117910-20150313-2 This website also contains further interesting information about the eventful history of Kreuzberg Castle.

A beautiful ruin with an interesting past, which unfortunately has been demolished for building material.

Small, historic town center with the Ahrquelle and the possibility to rest a little in a cafe

The ascent to the castle is worthwhile just for the view of the old Blankenheim, numerous information boards also provide information about the baroque garden and the Tiergarten tunnel - unfortunately no longer there.

A nice, interesting place with hidden wall remnants in the surrounding forest.

The "old town" of Blankenheim is mostly well preserved or restored and (apart from a few "modern architectural mistakes") worth seeing. Coming on the Way of St. James from Cologne (or in the variant from Bonn), the pilgrim to Bad Münstereifel - where both routes unite - now reaches this place as a stage destination on the further path through the Eifel in the direction of Trier.