Solingen Things to Do

A few kilometers from Solingen, is located the Schloss Burg (Castle Berg), home to the Counts of Burg, who initially used the site as a fortress beginning about 1000 A.D. during the time of the crusades. Today it is a part of the 600 year old, world renowned flatware center of Solingen, and was the actual capital of the Bergische Land during the Middle Ages. It was the seat of the Counts of Burg, who ruled their delightful little realm from here. See the Wupper River valley map. The castle is located at coordinates P-10. (Click on the thumbnail at the right to see a full size view of the castle.)

In the first half of the 12th century, Count Adolf of Berg resolved to build a new castle. He found the ideal site on the Wupper, high upon a mountain cliff. The old, small castle on the Dhünn was transferred over to the Cistercians, who first built a monastery there, and later the famous and well known Altenberg Cathedral. The family of Berg would come to be closely tied to the monastery that was always well provided for by the Counts. It would also become the grave church for the counts.

The CAFE HUBRAUM in Solingen is one of the most frequented bike places in Germany. Although the building served different functions under different names throughout the last 80 years, it has always been popular with bikers. Many runs starting from here.
In 1993, Dirk Fach together with his friend Rainer Esslinger, opened the Cafe Hubraum as it is known today to thousands of motorcyclists.
On busy days, more than 5.000 bikers drop by, have a chat, checking out the bikes and the scene whilst having a cup of coffee or a meal.

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Archbishop Engelbert II of Cologne was the first count to really build up the castle grounds. He did this back in the 1200s. For his efforts, he is memorialized in an equestrian statue on the castle grounds. His stately horse is facing the valley and the town of Solingen. The tail of the horse is a rather impressive part of this statue. Good to know who the statue is and why he got a monument.

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This museum housed inside the Schloss Burg is a wonderful museum full of historical artifacts about castle life, military armor, hunting, and the history of the castle and surrounding area. The displays are very well done and are quite extensive.

The signs are only in German, but it is still rather easy to figure out what you are looking at so don’t let this keep you away from this great museum.

There are a variety of displays: military history with armor and weaponry, castle life that includes many of the treasures of the former dukes that lived in the castle as well as typical furniture and artworks, a section on hunting with taxidermied animals in displays showing their habitat, and the history of the Schloss Burg.

Once you leave the inside of the castle, continue to follow the signs that will lead you around the inside of the walls where you can get a very nice view of the Solingen and the surrounding area. The walls will go almost all the way around the castle with a detour to the castle keep where you can climb all the way up to the top for an even better view.

The museum costs €5/person (2013) and I felt that it was worth the money. There were lots of kids running around on the day we were there and the entire set up was a kid-friendly place to be.

The castle is open in the summer on Mondays 1300-1800 and Tuesdays through Sundays 1000-1800. Winter hours (November through February) are Tuesday through Friday 1000-1600, Saturday/Sunday 1000-1800, and closed Monday.

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Sitting high on the hill above Solingen is the Schloss Burg, the historical ducal home of the counts of Berg. Started in the 12th century, the castle has seen many building projects in its day due to renovations, destructions and rebuilding, and a final reconstruction after it was left for ruin.

Archbishop Engelbert II of Cologne, brother to Count Adolf VI of Berg, took over as count after his brother died in the Fifth Crusade. Today his equestrian statue stands outside the castle because he was the one that was the primary builder of the main structure in the early 1200s.

Over the next several centuries, the castle would see the War of Succession and the Thirty Years War. There would be a siege in the 1600s by Swedish soldiers as well as Imperial soldiers destroying the castle’s keep, walls, and gates. Later in the mid-1800s, the castle would be left to ruin.

A reconstruction project around the turn of the century (late 1800s-early 1900s) would return the castle to its former glory, but even this was not to last as a fire in 1920 destroyed a good bit of the castle.

Reconstructed once again, today we see a castle that is reminiscent of the many periods of the castle’s history, although not entirely identical to what it used to look like.

What was not very clear when we toured the castle was the layout of what to see (no maps). However, we eventually figured out that one needs to start at the museum entrance (up the steps to the far right after the ticket counter next to the statue of the soldier). Then there are plenty of signs directing you throughout the entire museum and castle area.

Today the Schloss Burg is a popular tourist attraction. There are a number of shops, restaurants, and a very good museum within the castle grounds. From Solingen below, there is a cable car that visitors can ride up to the castle – or you can drive up and park in its very large parking lot (€1,60/hour). Because it was still wintertime, the cable car was closed, so we opted to drive and park.

The castle is open in the summer on Mondays 1300-1800 and Tuesdays through Sundays 1000-1800. Winter hours (November through February) are Tuesday through Friday 1000-1600, Saturday/Sunday 1000-1800, and closed Monday.

Admission to the shops and restaurants on the castle grounds is free, but to get inside the castle and the museum costs €5/person (2013 prices).

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An interesting mixture of medivial and local architecture.
The castle is well restored. You can visit the site even for free. The fee to get inside the castle building is low and worth paying for.

This painting in the ballroom of Schloss Burg illustrates a political marriage to unify six lands at that time (15th century).
The groom is six and his bride is only five years old.