Drachenfels (Dragon's Rock), the most celebrated of the Siebengebirge range or "seven hills" (though their number is really greater), on the right bank of the Rhine, near Bonn. The ascent of the steep mountain, which is about 1,050 ft. high, amply rewards the traveller by the beauty of the scenery of the river and valley and of the adjoining panorama of ruin-clad mountains. On the summit of the Drachenfels are the ruins of a castle of the 12th century, and two monuments of the services of the Siebengebirge militia in the struggle of 1813-15. Here also is a quarry which has furnished stone for the cathedral of Cologne, and hence called Dombruch (cathedral quarry).

Ruins on the Drachenfels.

The beauty of this mountain has been a fruitful theme with poets of every land. Its name is explained by a tradition of a dragon which inhabited a cavern in its sides, and was slain by Siegfried, the hero of the Nibelungen lay.