On a steep rock

High above the Ahr Valley one can see the remains of this fortress rise up. Its donjon was often used as a prison for political opponents.
 
Burg Are
Ahr Rhein Eifel Tourismus & Service GmbH
Klosterstraße 3 - 5
53507 Marienthal
Telephone: +49 (0)26 41 / 97 73-0
Telefax: +49 (0)26 41 / 97 73-73
Email: info(at)wohlsein365.de
www.wohlsein365.de


The fortress is located on a steep and rocky hill. Its eastern and southern side rise up quite steeply. It was erected in the first half of the 12th century by Theoderich von Are as the residence of the Earls of Are. In the 13th century it was owned by the electors of Cologne then, and in the 14th and 15th century it was renovated and expanded for a couple of times again.
Its donjon served as a prison for political opponents and is the scene of true and invented stories of an adventurous escape. In the 18th century the garrison of the fortress became a plague, so that it was blasted in 1714.
The ground plan of the fortress is a quadrangle. At the southern side there is the old gate tower and right next to it the palace. At the pointed rock knoll in the northern corner the oldest donjon was said to be, and north of it the voluminous remains of the rectangular, three-pass fortress chapel from the 12th/13th century.