Heisterbach Abbey

The tradition of its origin is that a knight named Walther lived as a hermit on the Stromberg, also known as the Petersberg, one of the mountains forming the Siebengebirge.

[2] In 1202 they moved to the lower Peterstal (Valle St. Petri), where they built a new monastery which they called Petersthal or Heisterbach, which was the name which prevailed.

[2] Heisterbach, which had large possessions and drew revenues from many neighbouring towns, remained one of the most flourishing Cistercian monasteries until its suppression in 1803.

The library and the archives were given to the city of Düsseldorf; the monastery and the church were sold and torn down in 1809, and only the apse with the ruins of the choir remains.

[4] A legend, reminiscent of "Rip Van Winkle", concerns a monk, who besieged by doubts, fell asleep in the nearby forest and awoke 300 years later.