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Hohensyburgstraße
44265 Dortmund-Syburg
Geodaten
51° 25′ 12″ N, 7° 29′ 13″ O
RVR-Geodatenserver
ÖPNV
Von Dortmund Hbf mit Casinobus 444 (zuschlagpflichtig); von Hagen Hbf mit Bus 544 bis "Syburg Casino"
The ruins of the Hohensyburg fortress stand on the top of a tall hill between Hagen and Dortmund, north of Lake Hengstey, a reservoir which was created in the 1920s. On the western edge of the hill stands a huge monument which can be seen from miles around. The Kaiser Wilhelm memorial was unveiled in 1902.
The Hohensyburg was built on a strategically favourable site at the top of a steep cliff sometime after the year 1100. It was intended to act as a defence fortress for the nearby emperor’s court at Westhofen. In 1287 Count Engelbert III von der Mark had the fortress destroyed in order to put a stop to the plundering activities of rival lords. Nowadays the ruins of the fortress house a monument to the war dead. The Kaiser Wilhelm Monument, unveiled in 1902, shows the Kaiser mounted on a horse in front of a 34 metre high tower, flanked by statues of Bismarck and Moltke. The neo-gothic monument originally consisted of a group of three towers, but it was partly dismantled during the Third Reich, leaving it with only one tower made of local sandstone.
The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial and the ruins of the fortress passed into the hands of the Westphalia-Lippe regional authority in 1945. From the viewing terrace in front of the monument visitors can enjoy a panoramic view over the Ruhr Valley, the estuary of the River Lenne and Lake Hengstey at the foot of the hill. If the weather is fine it is also possible to make out the hills in the Sauerland region in the distance. To the west can be seen the site of the "Koepchenwerk", a pump-fed power station which supplies energy to the Ruhrgebiet during peak load periods.
