Siebengebirge

The Siebengebirge (lit. "seven mountains" in German) is a German range of hills to the East of the Rhine, southeast of Bonn, consisting of more than 40 mountains and hills. It is located in the municipalities of Bad Honnef and Königswinter. It is of volcanic origin and came into being about 400 million years ago. Much of the territory covered by the Siebengebirge belongs to the Naturpark Siebengebirge, which is under environmental protection.

The highest peak is the Oelberg at 460 metres. It is a popular tourist destination for hiking, because of its natural beauty. Large parts of the range are part of the Siebengebirge nature reserve and are subject to environmental protection regulations.

The Siebengebirge mountains

"The seven most important hills:"

* Großer Ölberg (Large Mount of Olives, 460 m)
* Löwenburg (455 m)
* Lohrberg (435 m)
* Nonnenstromberg (335m)
* Petersberg (331 m, Former name: "Stromberg"
* Wolkenburg (324 m)
* Drachenfels (321 m)

"Other mountains and hills:"

* Himmerich (366 m)
* Trenkeberg (430 m)
* Weilberg (297 m)
* Stenzelberg (well suited for climbing, 287 m)
* Broderkonsberg (378 m)
* Mittelberg (353 m)
* Leyberg (359 m)
* Jungfernhardt (320 m)
* Geisberg (324 m)
* Schallenberg (310 m)
* Großer Breiberg (313 m)
* Kleiner Breiberg (288 m)
* Wasserfall (338 m)
* Kleiner Ölberg ("Small Mount of Olives", 332 m)
* Limperichsberg
* Scharfenberg
* Zickelburg (182 m)

Origin of the name

The origin of the name "Siebengebirge" is disputed. Four theories exist:

#The word "sieben" is derived from the word "siefen", which denotes a wet, creek-nerved valley.
#The oldest name (Moller, 1590) wasn't "Siebengebirge", but "Sieben Berge" ("septem montes", seven hills). Depending on the viewpoint near the rhine, one notices almost exactly seven mountains, which are not always the same and not even the highest. Also, the number seven used to denote an arbitrary amount of items, was connected to magic and thus had a highly symbolic meaning. This makes it an obvious name for an area that was said to be sinister and impenetrable before the 19th century.
#The name "Siebengebirge" emerged from the word "Siedengebirge" which indicated the presence of soap boilers ("Siefensieder"), which were banned from the valleys because boiling soap smelled so badly.
#The most common, yet wrong interpretation is that the word specifies the seven major mountains.

External links

* [http://www.siebengebirge.de Information and pictures about the Siebengebirge]
* [http://www.rheindrache.de Rhine Dragon The Seven Mountains: a virtual tour, history, old and new legends, nature]
* [http://www.honnefer-bilderbogen.de Honnefer Bilderbogen with pictures of the Siebengebirge]