🇩🇪Germany·Open to visitors

Godesburg: hotel and restaurant

Bad Godesberg, Bonn

Sources checked November 2026

“Additions in exposed concrete and glass shape the core of a ruined castle built on an extinct volcano.”

Year: c. 1960
Architect: Gottfried Böhm
Type: Restaurant and former hotel added to a castle ruin (listed monument)
Access: Restaurant open Wednesday to Sunday, on Sundays for brunch only (operator's website, November 2026)

Around 1960 Gottfried Böhm transformed the ruin of the Godesburg, a castle of the archbishops of Cologne founded in 1210 on an extinct volcano, by adding a hotel and restaurant of exposed concrete and glass. These buildings, to the west, north and east, now shape the look of the castle's core, where the keep and medieval walls survive. The restaurant is still open to the public; the other rooms are used as homes.

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In depth ≈ 2 min read

History

Dietrich I of Hengebach, Archbishop of Cologne, laid the foundation stone of the Godesburg on 15 October 1210, on an extinct volcano, and the fortress soon became one of the favourite residences of the Electors of Cologne. In 1244, under Archbishop Konrad von Hochstaden, the castle was extended and gained the first five storeys of its keep; around 1340-1350 Archbishop Walram of Jülich had the keep raised further and an outer bailey added. In 1583, during the Truchsess War, the troops of Ernest of Bavaria took it and blew it up; after 1,500 pounds of gunpowder, nothing was left but ruins and the keep.

In the late 19th century Emperor Wilhelm II gave the ruin to the municipality of Godesberg, which opened an inn in historicist style there in 1896. Around 1960 the ruin was transformed to plans by Gottfried Böhm, who added a hotel and a restaurant. Works carried out in 2003 made the castle barrier-free. The Godesburg is entered on the City of Bonn's list of monuments.

Architecture

The Godesburg stands in the Bad Godesberg district of Bonn, 122 metres above sea level, on the volcanic cone that gave it its name. Of the medieval castle of the 13th and 14th centuries there remain, among other parts, the enclosing walls of the palas on the north side, the keep and stretches of the outer bailey's curtain wall.

Böhm's additions, in exposed concrete with glass façades, housed a hotel and a restaurant; to the west, north and east of the site they now shape the look of the castle's core. The design follows the medieval layout and room arrangement only in part. The restaurant has several rooms, among them a wine room and a knights' hall.

Use today

The restaurant occupies Böhm's buildings: guests eat à la carte or at the Sunday brunch, and its rooms host company parties, weddings and birthdays. The other rooms are used as homes. The keep was restored by the City of Bonn in 2006, and a small permanent exhibition presents the history of the castle.

Visiting

The restaurant opens Wednesday to Sunday; tables are booked through the form on the operator's website. From the car park, a lift suited to people with reduced mobility leads without a step to the entrance across a footbridge; on foot, the partly cobbled path up to the castle is steep.