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 (Ruhrsandstein) is of high resistance, and was widely used as building material in the region; some quarries are yet visible in the area.

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.

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.

A place above the Weser river at the Porta Westfalica gorge won the race against the Syberg with a small majority.

His son Karl Donndorf created the two statues of the successful army leaders Prince Frederic William and Prince Friedrich Karl in the German Wars of Unification; both of them were removed in 1935, when the construction was substantially changed following the ideals of Nazi architecture by architect Friedrich Bagdons.

A War memorial in form of a lying soldier guided by an eagle of 1930 by Friedrich Bagdons, too, is placed directly into the ruins of the Hohensyburg.

It has got a new building by architect Harald Deilmann, and started working with an opening concert with Sammy Davis Jr. in June 1985 on the Syberg.

[4] The Hohensyburg ruins with war memorial, the Vincketower, and the national monument are now property of the supracommunal authority Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL).