Burg Odenkirchen

Burg Odenkirchen stands in the Mönchengladbach district of Odenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It began as a wooden motte in a marshland in the 12th century. By the 17th century it had become a stone castle. The first written record comes from 1153, when Emperor Frederick Barbarossa confirmed the castle belonged to the Archbishop of Cologne. The castle changed hands many times. After French bombardment in 1689 and a town fire in 1701 it was rebuilt for estate management. In 1734 the Merode family restored the surviving gate arch. Later owners included the Dutch diplomat Count Unico von Wassenaer and Cologne’s Archbishop Clemens August. After secularisation in 1803 the property passed through private hands until the Catholic parish bought it in 1920. Today the restored tower houses meeting rooms for the altar boys. The Heimatverein Odenkirchen maintains the rest of the complex. Visitors see the medieval gate arch, the small Burg garden and the tower’s upper chamber. The lower rooms remain in use by the parish. The tower itself is protected as an archaeological monument.