Syberg
The Syberg is a hill in the Ruhr in the southern part of Dortmund, 240 m above sea level, which is part of the Ardey Hills. The Syberg is home to the Sigiburg, the Vincke Tower, a monument to Emperor William I and other points of interest.
The family name of the House of Syberg is derived from the Syberg.
Geology, mining, nature reserve
The Syberg is part of the Ardey Hills, and was formed of sandstone and slate of the Namurian, a stratigraphic unit of the Carboniferous. The sandstone is of high resistance, and was widely used as building material in the region; some quarries are yet visible in the area.The slopes of the Ruhr and its tributaries were the first locations of coal mining in the Ruhr region. The first documents of coal mining in the Syberg date from 1580. Regular mining ended at the end of the 19th century, but during the Occupation of the Ruhr in 1923 and in the crisis after World War II illegal mining took place. Adits and pinges are yet visible, and a mining path is established.
The steep slopes to the Ruhr on the southern face of the Syberg are a valuable nature conservation area with its forests of oaks, beeches and hornbeam. The area is one of two refugia of the common wall lizard in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Historical sites
Prehistory
The oldest relicts of human presence on the Syberg are from the Neolithic and Bronze Age. Some mints of Roman occupation time were found.Sigiburg
Syberg became a historical location during the Saxon Wars, when Charlemagne captured a hillfort on top of the hill named "Sigiburg" in 775 AD; two years later the Saxons failed with a reconquest of Sigiburg. In historical tradition the Sigiburg is marked as of Saxon origin, but there are no real proofs for this opinion.Hohensyburg
In the High Middle Ages this region got under control of the Archbishop of Cologne, who established a hill castle on the Syberg since 1150. The Lords of Syberg were the first ministerials mentioned. Since about 1300 the County of Mark got the loan power. The castle was finally destroyed in the 16th and 17th century.Church
A church of romanesque origin from 1169 became spiritual centre of the small settlement Syburg. The church was destroyed by bomb raid in World War II and rebuilt in former style. During post-war excavations relicts of a previous Carolingian church came to light. It is very doubtful, whether this church had been sacrificed by Pope Leo III in 799, as a medieval legend told.Peter's source
The Pope Leo legend also refers to the Peter's font, first mentioned in 1427. The speculation of an origin as prehistorical sanctuary is extremely doubtful.Vincke tower
Close to the ruins of the Hohensyburg the Vincke tower in neogothic style was erected in 1857 and renewed in 1882 in honour of Ludwig von Vincke, the first Supreme president of the Prussian Province of Westphalia. Vincke had a special relation to this place, for his first wife Eleonore von Syberg was a descendant of the Lords of Syberg and owner of the castle ruins.In 1945, the Vincke tower was an observation point of the German artillery, and was hit by shells of the Allies.