Siegen

Siegen is a 102,836 inhabitants city by river Sieg located in the southern part of Westphalia, in the federal state North Rhine-Westphalia, by the border with Hesse. Siegen is the birthplace of the famous Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens and was reigned by the family Orange-Nassau, which currently are the royal family of the Netherlands.

How do I arrive to Siegen?

  Siegen isn't too well connected with other major cities in North Rhine-Westphalia. 

• Train: there are often trains to important destinations within NRW like Altena (aprox. 1 hour 15 minutes) or Cologne (aprox. 1 hour 30 minutes). 
• Bus: there are buses to many cities in NRW state.
• Car: if you rented a car from Siegen it can be reached Altena (aprox. 50 minutes), Cologne (aprox. 1 hour), Dortmund (aprox. 1 hour 10 minutes), Bonn (aprox. 1 hour 15 minutes) or Düsseldorf (aprox. 1 hour 30 minutes). It can be reached from Limburg and der Lahn (aprox. 1 hour), Marburg (aprox. 1 hour 10 minutes) or Frankfurt am Main (aprox. 1.5 hours) in Hesse; and Koblenz (aprox. 1 hour 20 minutes) in Rhineland-Palatinate.

History

The first documentary mention of the place called Sigena dates from 1079, markedly shaped by mining. In 1224, Siegen is mentioned as a town owned by the Heinrich the Rich (Count of Nassau) and Engelbert II of Berg (Archbishop of Cologne), gaining town rights on 1303 and on 1381 passing fully into Nassau hands. Johann VII converted into  Calvinism and his son Johann VIII returned in 1612 to the Roman Catholic Church. In 1632, Nassau-Siegen was conquered by the Swedes and John Maurice of Nassau-Siegen re-introduced Protestantism, going afterwards back to Catholicism. Wilhelm Hyacinth was the last in the line of Nassau-Siegen's Catholic rulers and the Holy Roman Emperor transfered the power to the Prince of Orange and the Prince of Nassau-Diez. Under their leadership, mining, the main source of wealth, blossomed, along with agriculture and silviculture. Prince William of Orange refused to join the Confederation of the Rhine, being unseated by Napoleon and his position passed to the Grand Duchy of Berg. After Napoleon's downfall in 1813, however, William I regained his former German inheritances, but in 1815 he ceded them to the Kingdom of Prussia for the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Under Prussian rule, Siegen developed into the South Westphalian centre that it is today. During WW2, Siegen was repeatedly bombed by the Allies (owing to a crucial railroad crossed the town). 

 

What can I visit in Siegen?

 Siegen doesn't have many things to do but it's still interesting to enjoy some time in the city.

These are Siegen's main attractions:

• Siegen Upper Castle: 13th century Schloss built for the Archbishop of Cologne but mainly used since the 14th century by the counts of Nassau, reaching the branch of Nassau-Siegen. Within the palace it's located Siegerland Museum (10-17 Tue-Sun; 4€/ 1.50€  adults/ reduced), museum that explains the history of Siegen and its surrounding area. The collection includes 9 original paintings by Rubens, including Descent from the Cross or a self portrait. There used to be another castle, Siegen Lower Castle, but it was destroyed during WW2.
• St. Nikolai Lutheran Church (10-18 Mon-Fri, 10-12 Sat from Apr to Oct; free): 13th century Romanesque style church whose nave is the only European hall hexagon north of the Alps and has a 53 m high tower too. On its top it has a crown (Krönchen) placed by Johann Moritz von Nassau-Siegen when he was moved from count to prince.
• Siegen Museum of Contemporary Art (11-18 Tue-Sun; 5.90€/ 4.60€  adults/ reduced): art gallery about Contemporary art focused on art practice and its roots. It's also home of Lambrecht-Schadeberg Collection that shows late 20th century paintings and prints by the 13 Rubens Prize laureates (like Giorgio Morandi, Antoni Tàpies, Fritz Winter, Lucian Freud or Sigmar Polke). 
• South Westphalia Active Museum (): small museum located at the Siegen synagogue that shows the Jewish history in the Siegen-Wittgenstein district and conmemorates groups of victims from our region who suffered from Nazi terror. 
• St. Martini Lutheran Church (15-18 Tue-Thu from May to Sep): 16th century church whose history and whose history dates back to the 8th century, being the oldest surviving religious building in Siegen.
• Only 15 km west it can be found Freudenberg, a 17,739 inhabitants town in Siegen-Wittgenstein region. It's traditional town with black-and-white half-timbered hourses that together from the Alter Fleck, a very popular photo spot. Here it can be visited Freudenberg Technik Museum (13-16 Wed, 10-17 Sun; 5€/ 3€/ free  adults/ reduced/ people under 14), an exhibition of machines and technical devices.

Siegen Upper Palace

St. Nikolai Church

 

Altena Castle

Sauerland, the region between Dortmund and Siegen, has more than 20,000 paths to enjoy its mountains, lakes (Sorpesee, Biggesee, Hennesee, among others) and nature, particulary beech and fir forests. It's quite popular among Dutch people looking for some mountain life and residents in Cologne who want to enjoy nature, as well as skiing fans around Winterberg in winter.  In the town of Atterdorn (24,367 inhabitants) it's located the famous Atta Cave (11-16:30 from May to Aug; 11-15:30 from Sep to Apr; 10€/ 6€  adults/ people under 15), cave part of one of Germany's biggest interconnected cave systems, exposed during limestone mining in 1907. Continuing north there's Balve (11,361 inhabitants) and its Balve Cave, biggest cave used as a cultural venue in Europe. Very close to Dortmund there's the municipality of Altena (16,922 inhabitants) by river Lenne, origin for the later Dukes of Berg and famous for its wire production. Here it can be visited one of the most beautiful hilltop castles in Germany, Altena Castle. It was built from the 12th century and has exhibitions about history and life during Middle Ages. Its ticket is included with the one to the German Wire Museum (9:30-17 Tue-Fri, 11-18 Sat-Sun; 6€/ 3.50€  adults/ students and people under 18), museum that shows how wire is manufactured, how they work, their uses and their importance in Altena's history as the center of German wire industry.

Where can I eat in Siegen?

Siegen doesn't a very large culinary offer but the recommendations to eat are Schwarzes Schaf (Erzstraße 46) or Steakhaus El Rancho (Neumarkt 7).

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Posted in: Europe,Germany,North Rhine-Westphalia

Detmold

Detmold (Deppeln in Low German) is a 74,388 inhabitants city located in the eastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, in Germany, considered to be the cultural centre of the region of Lippe, not far from the border with the German state of Lower Saxony. It was the capital of the small Principality of Lippe (1468-1918) and then of the Free State of Lippe (1918-1947)


 

How do I arrive to Detmold?

  Detmold isn't quite well connected with the rest of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. 

• Train: there are trains every hour to places like Paderborn (aprox. 40 minutes) and Bielefeld (aprox. 30 minutes).
• Bus: there are some buses to nearby places within the region of Lippe.
• Car: if you rented a car from Detmold it can be reached Bielefeld and Paderborn (aprox. 40 minutes), Soest (aprox. 1 hour 10 minutes), Dortmund (aprox. 1 hour 30 minutes), Düsseldorf (aprox. 2 hours) or Cologne (aprox. 2 hours 15 minutes). It can be reached from other places in Lower Saxony like Hamelin (aprox. 50 minutes), Osnabrück (aprox. 1 hour 10 minutes), Hannover (aprox. 1.5 hours) or Kassel (aprox. 1 hour 20 minutes) in Hesse.

History

  Close to Detmold it's located the place where the so-called Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (9 AD) took place, with Germanic tribes led by Hermann (Arminius) defeated Roman legions under the command of Publius Quinctilius Varus. Detmold was first mentioned as Theotmalli in 783, the year of a battle between the Saxons and Charlemagne's forces nearby. This was an event in the Saxon Wars. In 1005 a Theotmalli region is referred to in documents and in 1263, Bernard III of Lippe fortified the settlement at the crossing of the trade route from Paderborn to Lemgo over the Werre River and market rights granted in 1265, leading to rapid economic development. In 1550, Detmold became the permanent residence of Count Simon III of Lippe. The counts were elevated to princes in 1789, and Detmold remained the capital of the small Principality of Lippe until the end of the World War I in 1918, when all princely states in Germany were abolished. From 1919 to 1947, Detmold was the capital of the Free State of Lippe. When Lippe was incorporated into the new German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the town became the seat of the Lippe district, and since 1972 it has been the seat of the district administration of Lippe. 
 

What can I visit in Detmold?

 Detmold is a bit of an out-of-the-radar destination, making it quite interesting to stop here (although it doesn't have too many things to do. It has a very nice street with traditional houses, Adolfstraße.

These are Detmold's main attractions:

• Detmold Castle (10-17 from Apr to Oct; 10-16 Wed-Sun Nov to Mar; guided tours by 6€/ 4€  adults/ reduced): 17th century Schloss, first built in the 13th century, that was the residence of the Principality of Lippe until 1918 (it still belongs to the House of Lippe). It has 4 very characteristic corner towers and is regarded as one of the most beautiful buildings of the Weser Renaissance.
• Lippe Regional Museum (10-18 Tue-Fri, 11-18 Sat-Sun; 5€/ 3.50€/ 2€  adults/ reduced/ people under 18): museum with a great collection of Lippe and extra-Lippe cultural assets from the fields of natural history, prehistory and early history, regional history, folklore, art, furniture design and cultures of the world.
• Russian-German Culture History Museum (14-17 Tue-Fri, 11-17 Sat; 4€/ 2€  adults/ kids): museum that shows sections of the common German, Russian-German and Russian history, a diverse history of immigration and integration, with interesting links to our current political situation.
• LWL-Detmold Open Air Museum (9-18 Tue-Sun Tue-Sat from Apr to Oct; 8€/ 4€/ free  adults/ reduced/ people under 18): open-air museum that depics how traditional life used to be. There are workshops where you can watch blacksmiths, bakers and potters at work, gardens that are landscaped according to historic schemes and old and partially endangered domestic breeds such as Senner horses, Red Siegerland cattle or the Lippe geese.
• Hermannsdenkmal (9-18:30 from Apr to Oct; 9:30-16 from Nov to Mar; 4€/ 2€  adults/ kids under 15): 54 m high monument located in Teutoburg Forest, built in the 19th century by Ernst von Bandel to conmemorate Arminius (Cherusci war chief) and his victory at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (9 AD) over Rome. The statue's base may be climbed, providing wide landscape views of the surrounding forest. The statue is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Germany with over 530,000 visitors a year. There are also combined tickets for Hermannsdenkmal and Externsteine (6€/ 3€  adults/ kids under 15).
• Falkenburg Ruins (guided tours on request; 4€/ 2€  adults/ kids under 15): ruins of a hilltop castle (used between the 12th and 16th centuries) that used to be the seat of government in Lippe, considered one of the largest medieval dynasty castles in Westphalia.
• Extersteine (9-19 from Jul to Aug; 10-18 from May to Jun and Sep to Oct; 10-16 Tue, Fri-Sun from Nov to Mar; 4€/ 2€  adults/ kids under 15): distinctive sandstone rock formation with several tall, narrow columns of rock which rise abruptly from the surrounding wooded hills. It's considered to be a sacred place for pagan Saxons (where Irminsul idol is thought to have been placed) and has the Externsteine relief, a medieval depiction of the Descent from the Cross. Both Hermannsdenkmal and Extersteine are quite linked to German nationalism (and during the Nazi regime too).

Hermannsdenkmal

Detmold Castle

Bielefeld Town Hall

Only 30 km northwest from Detmold it is located Bielefeld, a 333,786 city in the district of Lippe and the 18th most populated city in whole Germany. Bielefeld isn't quite visited by tourists but there are some things to do here like walking by Alter Markt or enjoying the architecture of Bielefeld Town Hall. Its most spectacular building is Sparrenburg Castle (10-18 from Apr to Oct; 11-18 Sat-Sun from Nov to Mar; 2.50€/ 2€  adults/ reduced), 16th century restored fortress situated on the Sparrenberg hill with 60 m towers, considered to be Bielefeld's landmark. From its towers there are great views of Teutoburg Forest and its Casemites can also be visited (on guided tours). Bielefeld has several museums: Bielefeld Art Gallery (11-18 Tue-Fri and Sun, 10-18 Sat; 8€/ 4€/ 2€  adults/ reduced/ people under 13), contemporary art museum paid for by the businessman and art patron Rudolf August Oetker with paintings by Pablo Picasso, Max Beckmann or works by the Blaue Reiter group; Bielefeld Nature History Museum (10-17 Tue-Sun; 6.50€/ 4.50€  adults/ reduced) and Bielefeld History Museum (10-17 Tue-Fri, 11-18 Sat-Sun; 4.50€/ 2€/ 2€  adults/ reduced/ people under 6), small museum that shows the history of the city. Main churches in Bielefeld are Neustädter St. Marien Lutheran Church (10-18; free), 13th century Gothic church whose most valuable treasure is the Marienaltar, a 15th century painted triptych of 30 small scenes;

Westwerk of the
Princely Abbey of Corvey

and Altstädter St. Nicolai Lutheran Church (15-17), a 14th century church consideredd the oldest in the city. Bielefeld is the birthplace of the international brand Dr. Oetker and it can be visited Dr. Oetker World to know how the products are done.
Going on the other direction, in the border with Lower Saxony, it can be found the Princely Abbey of Corvey (10-18 from Apr to Oct; guided tours from Nov to Mar; 9.50€/ 5.50€  adults/ reduced) in the municipality of Höxter (28,824 inhabitants). This former Benedictine abbey was one of the half-dozen self-ruling princely abbeys of the Holy Roman Empire (until 1792, becoming a prince-bishopric and then was absorbed into Principality of Nassau-Orange-Fulda). Some of its highlights are the Carolingian westwerk (earliest standing medieval structure in Westphalia), but most of the abbey church is now Baroque. It was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2014.

 

Where can I eat in Detmold?

Some of the choices to eat in Detmold are the brewery Strate's (Lange Straße 35), Schnitzel-Point (Bruchstraße 9) or cafe Haus Hangstein (Hangsteinstraße 60). As for Soest the best ideas to try local are Brauhaus Joh. Albrecht (Hagenbruchstraße 8), the German restaurant Vahle (Wertherstraße 24) and the restaurant Schlichte Hof (Osnabrücker Straße 100). 

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Posted in: Europe,Germany,North Rhine-Westphalia