Germany · Nordrhein-Westfalen · Aachen
Richterich, Aachen — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Richterich is a north-western borough of Aachen, built around a moated castle, a village church, and old mining ground.
About Richterich
Where to stay in Richterich
Where you base yourself shapes the visit — here's the character of each area.
Richterich suits travellers who want a quiet base a short ride from central Aachen. The old village core around St. Martinus keeps a low-rise, residential feel, while the borough also reaches out toward Horbach and Huf and the border with Laurensberg. Most visitors sleep in Aachen proper and treat this borough as calm ground between the city and the Dutch frontier.
About Richterich
What are the main landmarks in Richterich?
The parish church of St. Martinus is the borough's signature building. Consecrated in 1791, it holds the Maaß organ of 1836, the oldest organ in Aachen, and its tower marks the old village from a distance. Schloss Schönau, a moated castle whose present buildings date from 1732, stands nearby and now belongs to the city of Aachen, which hosts cultural events in it.
Older farmsteads and heritage houses fill out the historic core.
What is the history of Richterich?
Richterich grew as a village long before it joined the city. Schloss Schönau traces its lordship back to a 1244 grant, and the parish church of St. Martinus was consecrated in 1791. Coal defined a harder chapter: the Grube Carl-Friedrich worked from 1911 until 1927 as the southernmost pit of Aachen's Wurmrevier field, then closed on poor coal.
On 1 January 1972 the borough was incorporated into Aachen.
Where is Richterich?
Richterich spreads across roughly 13 square kilometres on the north-western fringe of Aachen, bordering the Aachen borough of Laurensberg and the Kohlscheid quarter of Herzogenrath, with farmland thinning toward the nearby Dutch frontier.
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Updated July 2026