Dransdorf Castle

Dransdorf Castle is a former knight's seat in the Dransdorf district of Bonn. The current castle is the third building on this site, which is located somewhat off Siemensstraße next to the Kettelerschule and opposite the St. Antonius Church, thus close to the Dransdorf town center.

The complex, including the castle chapel, is listed in the monument register of the city of Bonn and is protected as a historical monument. A branch of the municipal music school is located in the castle building.

The first predecessor building of Dransdorf Castle was probably built around 1139, when a Kurkölnian vassal named Cuno von Travinstorp was mentioned in a document. In 1224, there was a knight named Lambertus de Draynstorp. In the following centuries, ownership of the castle changed several times; for example, in 1482 it belonged to the Bonn alderman Albrecht von Zweiffel and by 1664 at the latest to the Cologne family von Lyskirchen. In 1575, the 30 m² castle chapel (Antoniuskapelle) was first mentioned. In the late 17th century, the Junkersdorf family took over the castle. During the War of the Palatine Succession, the French burned down Dransdorf Castle in 1695. Through marriage to Agatha von Junkersdorf, the castle passed into the possession of Franz von Groote in 1716. Von Groote completely rebuilt the castle, which had burned down again in the early 18th century – this time probably due to lightning strike – in 1742 with bricks and a hip roof.

The castle remained in the possession of the von Groote family until 1860, from which, among others, the Cologne mayor Heinrich Josef von Groote originated. In 1860, Carl von Groote died without heirs, and the castle thus left private ownership for the first time, passing to the Cologne Gymnasium and Foundation Fund, which leased it out. Finally, in 1954, the city of Bonn bought the castle with an area of 400 Morgen.