Guided tour of Altenkirchen (Westerwald)

Description

We start at Altenkirchen railway station, which was built in 1883, and go in search of traces of the old brickworks. Many of the town's older brick buildings still show us the mostly red bricks fired here.We find the remains of the old city wall and stroll across Schlossplatz, whose castle we at least get to see on an artistically painted electricity box.

At today's Christuskirche (the fifth church on this square) we find an old gravestone from 1770 and on the market square we can see the two oldest and rather inconspicuous houses (built in 1602 and 1663).We encounter the old town wall in an inner courtyard, but also at the "Privilegierte Apotheke" (built in 1699). The right wall of the building is still connected to the former town wall. A look at the paving in the pedestrian zone reveals the exact course of the city wall, which was built after the granting of city rights in 1314.

Brief description

On this tour, we also discover lesser-known corners of the town and experience the change in the over 700-year history of the district town of Altenkirchen an der Wied in the Westerwald.

Directions

From the station, we walk via Konrad-Adenauer-Platz and the "Zick-Zack-Weg" up to Wiedstraße. Here we turn right to the crossroads with traffic lights, where we already recognise "XOX-Haus", named after the distinctive brick pattern. In the valley behind this building there used to be the old brickworks. The associated clay pit was located behind today's ALDI supermarket. Via Ziegelweg, the route returns to the "B8", the Kölner Straße or, in earlier times, the "Huh Stroß", the Hohe Straße. An old army and trade route from Cologne to Frankfurt am Main and likewise to Leipzig, which crosses Altenkirchen here.

We follow the view of the Kölner Straße down to the railway crossing and further into the town centre. Behind the first small square / playground in the pedestrian zone, we turn right into Mühlengasse. Where the car park is now, there used to be a large mill, whose mill wheel was driven by the millrace that still exists.

We pass the "Historisches Quartier", a place for the preservation of the town's history, and at the end of "Wallstraße" / "Im Hähnchen" we still find an old street cornerstone on the ground, formerly an impact protection for the horse-drawn carts. Further up, Saynstraße leads us to the Schlossplatz on the left.On the left, we find a picture of the former castle on an electricity box. However, the buildings were destroyed by major fires and war events.We cross the square in the direction of the church and on the left we see the flame memorial commemorating the synagogue and the Jewish fellow citizens who fell victim to the Holocaust.

Passing the church on the left, there is an old gravestone in front of the Protestant library, which was found during excavation work around the church. A wide passage now leads us back to Wilhelmstraße and we catch sight of the artistically designed façade of the former hardware shop of the Kuss family.

The market square was redesigned a few years ago, and at the far end we find a slated building that is probably the oldest house in town (1602). We now turn into Kirchstraße, cross the lovingly designed Kirchplatz and cross the zebra crossing to reach the remains of the old medieval town wall, which must have seen a lot as a house, stable or even garage wall.

Returning to Wilhelmstraße, we reach the Privileged Pharmacy, the oldest pharmacy in the town of Altenkirchen, in the pharmacist's building dating from 1730. On the ground, darkly protruding cobblestones show us the former course of the town wall and the town gate that existed here.At the end of the pedestrian zone, we cross the level crossing again, turn left into Koblenzer Straße and reach Bahnhofstraße again with its pleasantly wide footpath and outdoor seating in front of the café and restaurants.

We find what else is available in the Altenkirchen region in the tourist display in the UNIKUM regional shop, which also has regional specialities in shop for us.

Tips

In der Bahnhofstraße finden wir im traditionsreichen Café Schneider selbstgebackene Köstlichkeiten und im UNIKUM-Regionalladen handgefertigte Grüße aus der Region.

Destination

Station Altenkirchen

Starting Point

Station Altenkirchen