The Syberg is a hill in the Ruhr in the southern part of Dortmund , 240 m above sea level (NN) , which is part of the Ardey Hills . The Syberg is home to the Sigiburg , the Vincke Tower, a monument to Emperor William I and other points of interest.
31-754: The family name of the House of Syberg is derived from the Syberg. The Syberg is part of the Ardey Hills , and was formed of sandstone and slate of the Namurian , a stratigraphic unit of the Carboniferous . The sandstone ( Ruhrsandstein ) is of high resistance, and was widely used as building material in the region; some quarries are yet visible in the area. The slopes of the Ruhr and its tributaries were
62-599: A previous Carolingian church came to light. It is very doubtful, whether this church had been sacrificed by Pope Leo III in 799, as a medieval legend told. The Pope Leo legend also refers to the Peter's font ( Petersbrunnen ), first mentioned in 1427. The speculation of an origin as prehistorical sanctuary is extremely doubtful. Close to the ruins of the Hohensyburg the Vincke tower ( Vincketurm ) in neogothic style
93-416: A quarter of the town of Dortmund in 1928 in the frame of an extensive local government reorganization, and is now part of its town district Hörde . Ardey Hills The Ardey Hills ( German : Ardeygebirge or Ardey ) are a range of wooded hills, up to 273.8 m above sea level (NN) , in the territory of the city of Dortmund and the districts of Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis and Unna in
124-676: Is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany . It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda . It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen . Its mouth is 50 km (31 mi) further north against the ports of Bremerhaven and Nordenham . The latter is on the Butjadingen Peninsula . It then merges into the North Sea via two highly saline , estuarine mouths. It connects to
155-748: Is linked east at Bremerhaven to the Elbe . A large reservoir, the Edersee , on the Eder , the main tributary of the Fulda, is used to allow enough water depth for shipping year-round. The dam, built in 1914, was bombed and severely damaged by British aircraft in May 1943, causing great destruction and about 70 deaths downstream. It was rebuilt within four months. The reservoir is a major summer resort area. Turbines driven by its sluices provide electricity . The Weser enters
186-733: The German state south of the main projection (tongue) of Lower Saxony. "Weser" and "Werra" are the same words in different dialects. The difference reflects the old linguistic border between Central and Low German , passing through Hannoversch Münden. The name likely derives from the Old Germanic *waisōn "flow, ooze". It is cognate with the Wear in England and Vistula (Polish Wisła, German Weichsel) in Poland, all of which are derived from
217-648: The Hengsteysee ( 96.3 m above NN ), is used by the pumped-storage power station of Koepchenwerk in Herdecke to generate electricity from hydropower . The following cities and towns are located in or at the Ardey Hills along the Ruhr − from east-northeast to west-southwest −: Fröndenberg , Unna , Holzwickede , Schwerte , Dortmund , Herdecke , Wetter and Witten . The highest point in
248-775: The Porta Westfalica between two high hill ranges, the Wiehengebirge , west and the Weserbergland in the east. Between Minden and the North Sea, humans have largely canalised the river up to a limit of 1,200-ton ships. Eight hydroelectric dams stand at the ends of adjacent weirstreams that make up the river. The navigation is linked west to the Dortmund–Ems Canal via the Coastal Canal . It
279-522: The Proto-Indo-European root * weys- "to flow", which also gives rise to Old English/Old Frisian wāse "mud, ooze", Old Norse veisa "slime, stagnant pool", Dutch waas "haze; soggy land" (see Waasland ), Old Saxon waso "wet ground, mire", Old High German wasal "rain" and French vase "mud, sludge". The Weser starts at the confluence of the Fulda and the Werra. It then runs down to
310-747: The Roter Sand Lighthouse in 1964. The largest tributary of the Weser is the Aller , which joins south of Bremen. Tributaries of the Weser and the Werra (from source to mouth) are: Modes of the list: List: Main towns along the Weser are (from the head of the river to its mouth): Hann. Münden , Beverungen , Höxter , Holzminden , Bodenwerder , Hamelin , Hessisch Oldendorf , Rinteln , Vlotho , Bad Oeynhausen , Porta Westfalica , Minden , Petershagen , Nienburg , Achim , Bremen , Brake , Nordenham , Bremerhaven . The river features in
341-702: The Saxon Wars , when Charlemagne captured a hillfort on top of the hill named " Sigiburg " in 775 AD; two years later the Saxons failed with a reconquest of Sigiburg. In historical tradition the Sigiburg is marked as of Saxon origin, but there are no real proofs for this opinion. In the High Middle Ages this region got under control of the Archbishop of Cologne , who established a hill castle on
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#1732787558763372-547: The Weser river at the Porta Westfalica gorge won the race against the Syberg with a small majority. Despite this great disappointment, the monument on the Syberg was built nevertheless, completely financed by private efforts and inaugurated in 1902. The eclecticistic monument was decorated with an equestrian statue of Emperor William I and two statues of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck and Supreme Commander Helmuth von Moltke by Adolf von Donndorf . His son Karl Donndorf created
403-458: The Ardey Hills is the long ridge of Auf dem Heil , which rises in the territory of Herdecke west of the town itself. This and the other high points in the Ardey are shown below in order of height (m) above sea level (NN): Predominantly acidophilous sandstone and clay (argillaceous shales) as well as grauwackes from the Carboniferous form the geological base of the Ardey Hills. They are
434-809: The German state of North Rhine-Westphalia . The hills form part of the eastern Rhenish Massif and, to a lesser extent, to the Berg-Mark Hills ( Bergisch-Märkisches Hügelland ). The Ardey Hills, together with the Haarstrang , run from east to west, separating two major natural units: the Westphalian Lowland including the Emscher Depression and Hellwegbörde in the north from the Süder Uplands and lower Sauerland in
465-581: The Hohensyburg, the Emperor William monument, the Vincke tower, the St Peter's church, the Peter's font, the Husen castle, the funicular, and the mining relicts are classified as historical monuments by regulations of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. On the gently inclined northern slope of the Syberg the settlement Syburg developed near to the church. The self-governed rural community became
496-477: The North Sea in the southernmost part of the German Bight . In the sea it splits into two arms – the riverbed at the end of the last ice age . These sea arms are called Alte Weser (old Weser) and Neue Weser (new Weser). They are the waterways for ships heading for the ports of Bremerhaven , Nordenham , and Bremen . The Alte Weser Lighthouse marks the northernmost point of the Weser. This replaced
527-547: The Ruhr Ridgeway ( Ruhrhöhenweg ) maintained by the Sauerland Mountain Club ( Sauerländischer Gebirgsverein ) runs along the heights of the Ardey Hills from the source of the Ruhr to its confluence. The path has many viewing points especially in the Ruhr valley. The Westphalian Way ( Westfalenweg ) also runs over the Ardey Hills. Weser The Weser ( pronounced [ˈveːzɐ] )
558-485: The Ruhr on the southern face of the Syberg are a valuable nature conservation area with its forests of oaks , beeches and hornbeam . The area is one of two refugia of the common wall lizard in North Rhine-Westphalia. The oldest relicts of human presence on the Syberg are of neolithic and Bronze Age . Some mints of Roman occupation time were found. Syberg became a historical location during
589-562: The Syberg since 1150. The Lords of Syberg ( Herren von Syberg ) were the first ministerials mentioned. Since about 1300 the County of Mark got the loan power. The castle was finally destroyed in the 16th and 17th century. A church of romanesque origin from 1169 became spiritual centre of the small settlement Syburg. The church was destroyed by bomb raid in World War II and rebuilt in former style. During post-war excavations relicts of
620-541: The area. The building's ensemble Husen, consisting of Husen Castle , a tower house of medieval origin, and a manor house in classicistic style, lies at the bottom of the Syburg east slope near to the Ruhr and the Lake Hengstey in the neighbourhood of a campsite ( Campingplatz Hohensyburg ). Near to the basis station of the former funicular an open-air stage has been run since 1952 with theater performances in
651-631: The canal network running east–west across the North German Plain . The river, when combined with the Werra (a dialectal form of Weser ), is 744 km (462 mi) long and thus, the longest river entirely situated within Germany (the Main , however, is the longest if the Weser and Werra are not combined). The Weser itself is 452 km (281 mi) long. The Werra rises in Thuringia ,
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#1732787558763682-615: The city of Dortmund and town of Witten the northern edge of the hills is a popular residential area and, as a result, densely populated. The ridges ( Eggen or "edges") of the Ardey are covered by beech woods. Its slopes are incised by the V-shaped valleys of small streams, known as Seipen and divided into small landscape units. The Ardey Hills are an old cultural landscape . Traces of historic woodland usages like coppicing , wood pasture and charcoal burning may still be found in many places today. A particularly attractive section of
713-462: The first locations of coal mining in the Ruhr region . The first documents of coal mining in the Syberg date from 1580. Regular mining ended at the end of the 19th century, but during the Occupation of the Ruhr in 1923 and in the crisis after World War II illegal mining took place. Adits and pinges are yet visible, and a mining path ( Syburger Bergbauweg ) is established. The steep slopes to
744-417: The ruins of the Hohensyburg. After World War II the memorial got a Commemorative plaque with the name of killed soldiers from Syburg as supplement. A funicular was installed for the touristic development of the hill on the eastern slope in 1903, that worked until World War I and was dismantled in the 1920s. Its basis station was neighboured by a tramway terminus. Remnants of the funicular are yet visible in
775-542: The source of the Ruhr Sandstone which is extracted in large quarries. The Ardey and Haarstrang together were on the edge of the northern ice sheet from the last ice age . Along the Ruhr the Ardey has a decidedly hilly character with large height differences, steep, rocky slopes and deep V-shaped valleys . Seen from the north and east the Ardey Hills have a gentler appearance. Here there are gently curved hilltops covered in woods and meadows. Due to its proximity to
806-595: The south, the Ardey being counted as part of the Süder Uplands and the Haarstrang the Westphalian Lowland. From a topographical perspective, the Ardey Hills are the western foothills of the sparsely wooded and mainly agricultural Haarstrang. However it is different, not only from a cultural landscape point of view, but also geologically (a decisive factor being the carboniferous boundary near
837-587: The surface). In the north, on the territory of the city of Dortmund , the Ardey Hills descend gradually into the plain of the Westphalian Lowland in the area of Münsterland . To the south and west they are bounded by the River Ruhr , their rugged slopes often dropping steeply into its valley. On those slopes the point where there is the maximum 165.2 m height difference, from the upper storage basin (ca. 261.5 m above NN ) to
868-479: The two statues of the successful army leaders Prince Frederic William and Prince Friedrich Karl in the German Wars of Unification ; both of them were removed in 1935, when the construction was substantially changed following the ideals of Nazi architecture by architect Friedrich Bagdons. A War memorial in form of a lying soldier guided by an eagle of 1930 by Friedrich Bagdons, too, is placed directly into
899-580: The warm seasons. The Casino Hohensyburg ( Spielbank Hohensyburg ) is one of the four casinos of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has got a new building by architect Harald Deilmann , and started working with an opening concert with Sammy Davis Jr. in June 1985 on the Syberg. The Hohensyburg ruins with war memorial, the Vincketower, and the national monument are now property of the supracommunal authority Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL). The Sigiburg,
930-542: Was erected (total height: 26 m (85 ft)) in 1857 and renewed in 1882 in honour of Ludwig von Vincke , the first Supreme president of the Prussian Province of Westphalia . Vincke had a special relation to this place, for his first wife Eleonore von Syberg was a descendant of the Lords of Syberg and owner of the castle ruins. In 1945, the Vincke tower was an observation point of the German artillery, and
961-531: Was hit by shells of the Allies . The monument for German Emperor Wilhelm I (1797–1888) ( Kaiser-Wilhelm-Denkmal ) by Hubert Oswald Stier is one of a great amount of similar national monuments , that were built in the quarter century from his death to the beginning of World War I. In 1889 the Province of Westphalia decided to build such a monument and discussed several proposals for location. A place above