Auf Karbonfels gebaut – die Burg und das urzeitliche Stolberg
Stolberg
Stolberg Castle rises above the old town - and below it, the journey through time begins.
The light-colored limestone on which it stands was formed around 350 million years ago at the bottom of a tropical sea. Countless small creatures deposited their limestone shells here. Over a long period of time, these deposits compacted, layer by layer, until soft mud became hard reef limestone. Traces of coral, algae and shells are still trapped in it today - a solidified piece of ocean floor.
Man later intervened in this landscape. In the Gehlens Kull quarry, lime was quarried, burned and used as a building material - including for the walls of the castle. Two eras lie close together here: that of the history of the earth and that of the people who formed their habitat from it.
Tip: Take a moment at the viewpoint above the castle. From here, you can see how nature, stone and city merge into one another - a living history book made of rock.