Laurensberg, Aachen — Area Guide & Where to Stay

What are the main landmarks in Laurensberg?

St. Laurentius crowns the hill. The Carolingian parish church on the ridge gave the borough its name and still marks its skyline above the fields of Aachen. Down in Seffent stands Burg Seffent, a medieval fortified estate long since restored and lived in rather than left as a ruin.

Grander still is Schloss Rahe. This moated water castle was reworked in the eighteenth century into a four-wing manor set within its own park, the finest house in the borough. Together these carry a local history that the busier heart of Aachen tends to overshadow.

What is the history of Laurensberg?

The church came first. A place of worship on the Laurensberg hill is recorded as far back as the ninth century, and the St. Laurentius parish it grew into eventually lent the whole borough its name. For centuries this was farmland dotted with manors such as Burg Seffent and Schloss Rahe, worked from scattered hamlets like Orsbach and Vetschau.

That older rhythm held until 1972, when Laurensberg was folded into the city of Aachen and its ridges filled with university and hospital campuses.

Where is Laurensberg?

Laurensberg covers some 30 square kilometres of ridge and farmland on the north-western edge of Aachen, where the Wildbach rises near Seffent and runs down toward the Wurm along a temperate, gently hilly frontier shared with Belgium and the Netherlands.