Drachenburg Landscape Park in the Siebengebirge Mountains Park maintenance and park restoration

In 1882/83, banker Stephan von Sarter had a "fairytale castle" built in the style of historicism halfway up the Drachenfels. An indispensable part of the Drachenburg as a work of art was the extensive landscape garden, which enhanced the effect of the castle. With its clear division into terraces, pleasure grounds, sloping meadows and park forest, it follows the so-called zoning principle: from the opulently flowered palace terrace with its spectacular view of the Rhine valley, a staircase leads down to the Venus terrace. A fountain, trimmed lime trees and again a colourful variety of flowers make the Venus Terrace perhaps the most charming part of the park. In front of the portico of the castle, the Pleasureground with its curved paths, old trees, diverse shrubs, roses and flowers invites you to take a stroll. A path of almost 1 km in length connects to this and finally leads through meadows and groves, with again spectacular views of the imposing castle and the Rhine, down into the park forest with the Felsenmeer.
The work on the completely neglected Drachenburg Landscape Park began in 1992 with the development of the park maintenance work and the definition of the objectives. At the Drachenfels, as the oldest nature reserve in Germany, the elaboration and consideration of ecological objectives was a natural part of the planning. From 1999-2011, the terraces and park were restored to their historically proven condition in several construction phases. The main focus was on the restoration of the castle terraces and the complete network of paths, the opening up of the overgrown lines of sight into the park, onto the castle and into the Rhine landscape, as well as the replanting of the park according to historical models.