Altenberg () is an ''Ortsteil'' (area) in the municipality of

Odenthal Odenthal is a municipality in the Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Odenthal is situated approximately 5 km north of Bergisch Gladbach and 15 km north-east of Cologne. Neighbouring places Nearby ...

in the

Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis The Rheinisch-Bergische Kreis is a Kreis (district) in the Cologne Bonn Region of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Kreis Mettman, Oberbergischer Kreis and Rhein-Sieg, and the district-free cities Cologne, Leverkusen, Sol ...

of the State of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

and was formerly the seat of the Counts of

Berg Berg may refer to: People *Berg (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) *Berg Ng (born 1960), Hong Kong actor * Berg (footballer) (born 1989), Brazilian footballer Former states *Berg (state), county and duchy of the Holy ...

. Over the course of time they created around their Residence a small dominion, which later came to be called the

Bergisches Land The Bergisches Land (, ''Berg Country'') is a low mountain range region within the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, east of Rhine river, south of the Ruhr. The landscape is shaped by woods, meadows, rivers and creeks and contains over ...

History

At the beginning of the twelfth century the Counts donated the site of their old ancestral castle, the Burg Berge, to some

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

monks from

Burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...

, who erected a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

there but just a short while afterward relocated a few hundred meters further up the valley of the Dhünn. The Counts of Berg resettled at that time to Schloss Burg on the

Wupper The Wupper is a right tributary of the Rhine in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Rising near Marienheide in western Sauerland it runs through the mountainous region of the Bergisches Land in Berg County and enters the Rhine at Lever ...

Altenberger Dom

The most imposing building in Altenberg today is the high-Gothic

Altenberger Dom The Altenberger Dom (or Bergischer Dom) is the former abbey church of Altenberg Abbey which was built from 1259 in Gothic style by Cistercians. Listed as a cultural heritage, it is located in Altenberg, now part of Odenthal in the Rheinisch-Bergi ...

, begun in 1259. From the 19th century, the Altenberger Dom has been a ''

Simultankirche A shared church (german: Simultankirche), simultaneum mixtum, a term first coined in 16th-century Germany, is a church in which public worship is conducted by adherents of two or more religious groups. Such churches became common in the German-sp ...

'', which means it is used for services by both

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

and

Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. Concerts also regularly take place there. The church is owned by the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, which also financed the recent extensive restoration work, completed on 30 June 2005. On 25 August 2006 an ecumenical worship service and state ceremony took place, to mark the end of the twelve-year-long restoration, in the presence of

Joachim Meisner Joachim Meisner (25 December 1933 – 5 July 2017) was a German cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was the immediate past Archbishop of Cologne, serving from 1989 until his resignation was accepted by Pope Francis in 2014. He previously serve ...

and the

Minister-President A minister-president or minister president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments with a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government where they preside over the council of ministers. It ...

of North Rhine–Westphalia,

Jürgen Rüttgers Jürgen Rüttgers (born 26 June 1951) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as the 9th Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2005 to 2010. Education Rüttgers was born in Cologne. He holds degree ...

. Adjacent is

Haus Altenberg Haus Altenberg is a house for education and meetings of young people (''Jugendbildungsstätte'') of the Diocese of Cologne, located in Altenberg, now part of Odenthal, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was the centre of the Katholische Jugendbew ...

, which was for decades the centre of the Catholic Youth Movement, and serves now education and meetings of young people.

Märchenwald

There is also the so-called ''Märchenwald'' (Fairy-tale Forest), in which many German fairy tales are represented as tableaus in huts and figures.

External links

Verschönerungs- und Kulturverein Altenberg e.V.

Katholische Pfarrgemeinde Altenberg

Katholische Jugendgruppe Altenberg

Deutscher Märchenwald

Haus Altenberg e.V.

{{Authority control Odenthal