KOBLENZ AM RHEIN

GERMANY'S MOST BEAUTIFUL "CORNER" - DECEMBER 2005

The 2000-year-old town of Koblenz is situated at the junction of the rivers Rhine and Mosel and is surrounded by four low mountain ranges. Koblenz owes its name to the Romans who named "castellum apud confluentes" (castle at the confluence of the rivers) the castle they constructed here around 9 B.C. Koblenz, the former residence of the Electors of Trier, was conquered by foreign armies and has received princes, kings, emperors and presidents within its walls. It is a truly European place!


"TOO LATE – At 2:00 P.M. we tried to have lunch at the Winninger Weinstuben. It seems to be a nice restaurant, facing the Rhine and located in a historic building. No chance: the kitchen was already closed!"


"ST. CASTOR is the oldest church of Koblenz dating back to the year 836; its present form dates from the 12th century. From outside you recognize the Romanesque architecture; the interior has gothic vaults and baroque paintings and sculptures. The treaty of Verdun, by which the three surviving sons of Louis the Pious, Charlemagne's grandsons, divided the Carolingian empire, was signed here in 843"


"DEUTSCHES ECK, beyond St. Castor Church, is the place where the river Mosel flows into the river Rhine. In 1897, a monument to Kaiser William I, mounted on a 14 meter high horse, was inaugurated there. The monument stood there till WW II, when the statue was destroyed by US artillery. In 1953, the monument was re-dedicated to German unity. The place is a must, when you are in Koblenz!"


"MOSELLE RIVER – Here ends the 545 km travel of the Mosel River from its source on the Ballon d'Alsace in the Vosges Mountains, France, through the Lorraine region, west of the Vosges, further downstream, in Germany, between the Eifel and Hunsrück mountain regions, until the German Corner in Koblenz"


"OLD TOWN – On the banks of the Mosel, the old town (1276) was home to the castle of the Electors of Trier"


"BURGSTRASSE - Zum Hubertus Weinhaus is one of the few old buildings in Koblenz that survived the fires at the end of the Second World War. It hosts currently a quite nice restaurant"


"LIEBFRAUENKIRCHE - The Church of Our Lady is probably the most beautiful church of Koblenz and it was built in the very centre of town and at its highest point, to be safe from the floods of the rivers Rhine and Mosel. Liebfrauenkirche dates back to the 12th century. From the outside you may see the great onion-towers that were added in baroque times"



"FLORINSKIRCHE, currently an Evangelist church in the city centre, is a triple-nave Romanesque basilica from the 12th century, with a Gothic chancel (1350). The original flat timber ceiling was renewed in 1708, and the squat towers were replaced in 1900 by pointed ones"



"STREET SCULPTURES – Koblenz has a lot of them and some quite funny"


"MUNZPLATZ, where some remains from a Roman castle were found, got its name from an early Mint. In number 8 we find the Metternich House, built in 1674, and where the Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich was born. Metternich earned the admiration of succeeding generations for his brilliant management of foreign policy"


"FOUR TOWERS – Pedestrian zone"


"SACRED HEART CHURCH, built when Koblenz was starting its development towards south in 1900-1903, is a Catholic church. It belongs to the group of the most significant neo-Romanesque churches in Germany"




"CHRISTMAS MARKETS are famous everywhere in Germany. The Koblenz Christmas Market is one of the largest in Rhineland, with more than one hundred wooden stands. There you may taste Glühwein (a spicy mulled wine), usually prepared from cheap red wine, heated and spiced with cinnamon sticks, cloves and sugar, and sometimes with almonds and raisins. Another possibility is to enjoy the Christmas Market ice skating rink"