Godesburg The Godesburg is a castle in Bad Godesberg , a formerly independent part of Bonn , Germany . Built in the early 13th century on the Godesberg , a hill of volcanic origin , it was largely destroyed following a siege in 1583 at the start of the Cologne War . In 1891 , the German emperor Wilhelm II donated the castle ' s ruin to the city of Bad Godesberg . In 1959 , the ruin was rebuilt according to plans by Gottfried Böhm , to house a hotel and restaurant . Today , the restaurant is still in operation , but the hotel tract has been divided into apartments . Location . The site has a controversial history . Growing out of the nineteenth - century " Heimat " movement , historians speculated that in the pre - Christian era , the inhabitants probably used the peak to call to the god " Wotan " , the god of war , death and the hunt , and other attributes , establishing a custom that led eventually to the erection of a house of prayer on the site . They found early mention of the site in 9th century documents , and again in the 12th century , documents continue to refer to it as " Gotensberg " , or " Gotensperg " . first mentioned in documents from the early 8th century , was supposedly built on an old cult site and its name derived from the old Germanic " Wotansberg " , " Woudensberg " , or " Gotansberg " . In the 10th century , documents from the reign of Otto I in 927 , and Otto II in 974 , suggested that a religious community had been located on the mountain peak , thus the name " Gottesberg " . From this speculation , the idea emerged that the fort itself was established on an ancient cult site . Construction . The fortress foundation stones were laid by a vicar upon the order of Dietrich I , the Archbishop of Cologne , who was himself in disputed possession of the Electorate and fighting to keep his position . After Dietrich ' s death in 1224 , his successors finished the fortress ; it featured in chronicles of the 13th through 15th centuries as both a symbolic and physical embodiment of the power of the archbishop of Cologne in his many struggles for regional authority with the patricians of the imperial city of Cologne . By the late 14th century , the fortress had become the repository of the Elector ' s valuables and archives , and by the mid - 16th century , was popularly considered the " lieblingssitz " , or the favorite seat ( home ) , of the Electors . Modifications . The fortification had been originally constructed in the medieval style and in the reign of Siegfried II of Westwald ( 1275 – 1295 ) successfully resisted a five - week siege by Count William of Cleves . Successive archbishops continued to improve the fortifications with stronger walls and expanded moats , adding levels to the central Bergfried , which was cylindrical , not square like many medieval " donjons " , expanded the inner works to include a small residence , dungeons , and chapel , fortified the walls , added a curtain wall , and improved the roads . By the 1580s , it was an elaborate stone fortress , and it had been enhanced partially in the style made popular by Italian military architects . Although the physical location did not permit the star - shaped " trace italienne " , its cordons of thick , rounded walls and massive iron - studded gates still made it a formidable adversary . Its height , some above the Rhein ( Rhine ) , on the peak of a steep hill , made artillery fire difficult . Fortifications such as this , and the star - shaped fortresses more commonly found in the flatter lands of the Dutch Provinces , made warfare both difficult and expensive ; victory was not simply a matter of winning a battle over the enemy ' s army , but of traveling from one fortified and armed city to another and investing time and money in one of two outcomes : ideally , with a show of extraordinary force , convincing the city leaders to surrender the city , or reducing the city to rubble and storming the ruins . In the case of the former , when a city capitulated , it would have to quarter troops at its expense , called " execution " , but the soldiers would not be permitted to plunder ; in the case of the latter , no quarter was given to the defenders . References . " This article incorporates information from the German Wikipedia article . " concha culo