Unkel castle um 1955

The three-winged complex above the Rhine Promenade next to the church of Saint Pantaleon is called “Burg” because of its dominant position and size, although it never had the function of a castle. The beginnings of any building at this exposed place are unknown. The earliest known owner was the famous Salzfass family in the 16th century. In 1669 the mayor, Arnold von Herrestorff, bought the complex and added the south-wing in 1673. Three generations later in 1776 one of the von Herrestorff’s rebuilt the south-wing. The west-wing was erected in 1781 by Cologne’s mayor Franz Caspar von Herrestorff, to be used as their residence instead of a service building. After his death the Herrestorff family died out, having provided mayors and jurors for centuries. In 1838 the new owner, Eberhard Freiherr von Geyr- Schweppenburg, resconstructed the complex. The east-wing was demolished and a new and higher residence was erected as a northern wing crowned with a belvedere. In 1917, Carl Trimborn, leader of the Rhineland Centre Party bought the whole complex - and the square in front of St Mary’s column is named after him. His daughter Clary married the Bonn County Commissioner Edgar von Hobe and thus established the family of the present owners, the von Weichs. From 2013 to 2016 Clemens and Felicitas von Weichs executed extensive conservation measures, so all wings of the building can now be fully used.

In 1885 Christine Neven DuMont donated St Mary’s column in remembrance of her son, who had died as a toddler.