Petersberg

The Petersberg, formerly known as the Stromberg, is a mountain in the Siebengebirge mountain range near Bonn, Germany. It overlooks the cities of Königswinter, on the right bank of the Rhine river, and Bonn on the opposite side. Today the peak is the site of the Hotel Petersberg, which serves as a guest house of the Federal Republic of Germany.HistoryThere is evidence that humans were already living on the Petersberg in 3500 BC. A ring wall constructed about 1000 BC has been excavated.In 1189, by order of the Archbishop of Cologne Philipp von Heinsberg, Cistercian monks from the abbey of Himmerod took over an abandoned hermitage built by Augustinians. In 1202 the new Heisterbach Abbey was constructed in the Peterstal, the valley below the Petersberg.The mountain was first known as Stromberg (as documented in 1142) and received its current name after a chapel dedicated to Saint Peter was erected on its peak in 1764. In 1834 the area was sold to the merchant Joseph Ludwig Mertens. His wife Sibylle Mertens-Schaafhausen built a summer residence on the Petersberg, and became known as the Rheingräfin ("countess of the Rhine").