Burg Monschau
Burg Monschau stands on its hill over the town, and the grounds are open around the clock at no charge, which makes it an easy place to begin before anything else unlocks. Read the complex in two parts: the upper castle with its outer bailey is the oldest core, while the lower castle with the Eselsturm and the drawbridge came later. The wall walks along the ring walls are reconstructions.
The first building phase took place between 1190 and 1198 under Duke Walram IV of Limburg. The dukes needed a new stronghold: around 1140 they had handed their Burg Reichenstein to the Premonstratensian order because it was not defensible enough, and an older castle across the valley, the Haller, could not be expanded on its terrain. The castle first appears in writing in 1217 as "castrum in Munjoje", in a document of Archbishop Engelbert I of Cologne.
In 1269 the lordship of Monschau was joined with Valkenburg, today in Dutch Limburg, and in 1354 it passed to the margraves, later dukes, of Jülich. They turned the castle into a fortress with massive ring walls. Their additions include the castle chapel, first recorded in 1369 as the "nuwe Capelle", which served for about 300 years as Monschau's first church. Keep that chapel in mind; it returns at the end of the walk. The Haus zum Turm, built in 1351 as the official home and guardhouse of the forester and watch commander, stayed with the castle lords until 1795.
Today parts of the castle house a youth hostel and a retirement home, and in summer the courtyard becomes a venue for open-air concerts. Walk the courtyards and walls quietly and give yourself about half an hour. From here it is 680 m, around 10 minutes, to the glassworks.
