Wachtberg is a municipality in the Rhein-Sieg district, 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 state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It is situated approximately 15 km south of

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

. In 2021 the Wachtberg municipality had approximately 20,352 inhabitants. The municipality was formed 1969 as a merger of 13 now incorporated villages. The town-hall is in the village of Berkum, approximately in the center of the area. The Rodderberg mountain is in the east of the Wachtberg district. The municipality is named after another volcanic mountain, the Wachtberg, (extinct for 25 million years, now with a height of 258 m) that is situated near the centre of the municipality.

Landmarks

Four water castles are still inhabited: * Burg Münchhausen ''(near Adendorf)'' * Wasserburg Adendorf ''(near Adendorf)'' * Burg Gudenau ''(near Villip)'' * Burg Odenhausen ''(near Berkum)'' Several

water mill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production ...

s are situated on the streams, of which the Broicher Mühle near Villip is in continuous use since 886. At the top of the mountain Wachtberg there is a

cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty tomb or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although the vast majority of cenot ...

, built in 1923 by 10 of the 13 villages. 1042-adendorf2

The

radome A radome (a portmanteau of radar and dome) is a structural, weatherproof enclosure that protects a radar antenna. The radome is constructed of material transparent to radio waves. Radomes protect the antenna from weather and conceal antenna e ...

near Berkum has a

diameter In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest chord of the circle. Both definitions are also valid fo ...

of 49 m. In contrast to this several villages have ensembles of

timber framed Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

houses.

Niederbachem

Niederbachem is the biggest village within Wachtberg with 4276 inhabitants (July 2018).

References

External links

Official site

Tourist brochure
{{RheinSiegKreis-geo-stub