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Petersberg (336 m) 

Maybe you have heard the correspondent from Germany speaking about "The Petersberg close to Bonn", when reporting about an international conference being held in the hotel on the Petersberg.  The  two UN conferences on Afghanistan in 2001 and 2002 took place here and, in November 2005, the first "Partnership with Africa" conference. However, the hotel is open to the public.

His Excellency Mount Petersberg indeed is interesting, not only because of its diplomatic tasks. The Seven Mountains are of  volcanic origin. Most hills came into being by large volcanic eruptions during the Oligocene, the Petersberg with a final volcanic eruption in the Miocene. 

Its history takes us from the Stone Age until today. The Petersberg mountain and its surroundings were settled early; tools from the Neolithic and parts of axes and spears from the Bronze Age were found. The "Mondscheinwiese" (Moonlight Lawn) probably was the location of a prehistoric village.  Around 100 AD there was a fortified settlement on the Petersberg mountain, a part of the circular settlement wall still remains.  Yet, we have no certainty about who lived here back than and who built this wall. You will find different theories in books. Some say it was a Celtic settlement, since it is of Celtic type, and in the nearby village of Stieldorf Celtic coins have been found. Others say that the Teutonic Sugambriens lived here, based on Julius Caesar's reports who mentions Sugambriens living in this region. There could have been some sort of cultural exchange between the Teutons and the Celts, or - more likely maybe - Teuton raids into Celtic territory.

In 1189, the Arch Bishops of Cologne called Cistercian monks into the Seven Mountains, who built a church to the honor of Mary on the Petersberg, which back then was known as Stromberg, and dedicated it to St. Peter, and from then on the mountain was called Petersberg. Three years later, they left the Petersberg and settled in a valley nearby, the valley of Heisterbach.  Since 1312, the church on the Petersberg is a place of pilgrimage, as well as the Monastery of Heisterbach. For century people have come here, and you see a lot of stone crosses on the ways up to the top of the Petersberg. The medieval church has not remained. 1765 the abbot of Heisterbach had a new chapel built in baroque style. Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher got married here. 

There were quarries also located on the Petersberg, where basalt was mined - a stone that resists even hardest pressure. Already in the Napoleonic time it was used, and now, with the building of streets and railway lines, the quarries became more and more extensive.  Finally the damage done to nature alarmed many people. Back then two societies were founded who wanted to protect the Seven Mountains. Later they grouped together into one, the VVS.  Now there was a conflict of interests: the protection of nature stood not only against the interests of the owners of the quarries, but also against those of the quarrymen. We also have to think of those indirectly affected, like the HTB railway who mainly did freight traffic from the quarries to the factories. Finally tourism became important, too, since many people had discovered the Seven Mountains for trips, and their money supported the hotels, restaurants and public transportation. After long discussions, land purchases and law suits the last quarry on the Petersberg was closed in 1908. 

Another cog train was built to run to the Petersberg. It was in operation from 1888 to 1958 and transported many high ranking passengers. This train cog train didn’t make enough profit, in spite of an extension in 1919.

During the first years after World War II, the victorious powers reserved the right to themselves to control German policy and formed the Allied High Commission which from 1949 to 1952 took residence in the hotel on top of the Petersberg.  Here the important "Petersberg Protocol" was negotiated that opened the way into economic reconstruction and independence. By the way: while the Allied High Commissioners had their residence on the Petersberg, they often used the cog train, which was restored for that purpose.

Between 1954 and 1973, the hotel hosted the state guests of the Federal Government, among them the Shah of Persia, Reza Pahlevi with his wife back then, Soraya, in 1955 and then again in 1967 with his third wife Farah Diba, in 1965 Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, and in 1973 the Secretary General of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Leonid Breshnev.  Today the old hotel doesn’t exist anymore, in its place, a new guest house for the Federal Government was built. It modeled on the old hotel, saving some of the old stones. This hotel, too, has had it's share of prominent guests, among them Hillary and Bill Clinton - a jogging trail is named by him. 

How to get there

Seven Mountains map with motorways
Map of the region