Landmarks & Sights in Kempen

Franciscan Friary Kempen

3.6(7)· Google

Secularized Franciscan friary with a Baroque friars' church – today home to the Kramer Museum, town library, and Thomas Archive.

Gedenktafel Alter Bahnhof St. Hubert

At the site of the former St. Hubert railway station, a memorial plaque recalls the old "Schluff" light railway – today a historic place of remembrance on the Lower Rhine.

Georgsbrunnen (War Memorial)

4.4(15)· Google

A 1912 fountain and war memorial on the Buttermarkt in Kempen, crowned by St George doing battle with the dragon.

Gleumeshof (Moated Farmstead)

A once moated, four-winged brick farmstead in Kempen's Schmalbroich district, protected as a ground monument since 1991.

Grabenanlage „Schanze“ (Moated Fortification)

A protected earthwork of ramparts and ditches in Kempen's Schmalbroich district, still readable in the terrain as the relief of an old fortification.

Haus Baaken

4.5(4)· Google

A listed half-timbered house in Tönisberg with a Dutch late-Baroque façade, serving as an inn for over 250 years.

Haus Erprath (Tönisberg)

4.4(8)· Google

A former knight's estate in Tönisberg (Kempen) with a 19th-century manor house, listed as a protected monument since 1992.

Haus Steinfunder

A heritage-listed former noble seat with a moated manor house on the edge of the Niers lowlands in the Kempen district of Schmalbroich.

Haus Velde

Former knight's estate near Kempen: a Renaissance building on the edge of the Schlootkuhlen nature reserve, its courtyard coat of arms bearing the year 1527.

Heinz Mellen Birthplace

A memorial plaque in Kempen's old town marks the birthplace of dialect poet Heinz Mellen.

Kempen Castle

4.4(352)· Google

Alongside Zülpich Castle, it's considered the best-preserved 14th-century Electoral Cologne stronghold — with extensive original masonry.

Kuhtor

4.5(262)· Google

Built around 1350, the Kuhtor is the only surviving tower gate of Kempen's original four city gates.

Mahnmal vor der Burg

5.0(5)· Google

War memorial standing directly in front of Burg Kempen, commemorating the two World Wars. Erected in 1939 and created by Helmut Hentrich and Hans Heuser.

Memorial at the Former Synagogue of Kempen

5.0(1)· Google

A memorial on Umstraße commemorates the Jewish community of Kempen and those of its members who were driven out or killed between 1933 and 1945. It stands near the site of the synagogue destroyed during the November Pogrom of 1938.

Monument to Baron Felix von Loe

5.0(3)· Google

A bronze monument on the grounds of Kempen Castle honouring the chairman of the Rhenish Farmers' Association, founded in 1882.

Peterturm

4.5(4)· Google

The listed Peterturm is a rebuilt part of Kempen's once-demolished city fortifications.

Thomas à Kempis

4.7(6)· Google

Monument to the Augustinian canon and author of "The Imitation of Christ," depicted seated with his masterwork in hand, since 1901.

Tönisberg Post Mill

4.5(68)· Google

A post mill built in 1802 on the Tönisberg mill hill, opened to visitors by the local heritage society each Whit Monday.

Töpferdenkmal

A brick statue in Kempen's Tönisberg district commemorating the village's pottery tradition.

Villa Horten

Late Classicist villa from 1870 opposite Kempen Castle – briefly suspected crime scene in a 2008–2010 investigation.

Vinnbrück Treaty Memorial

4.0(7)· Google

A small memorial house of fieldstone brick beside a bend in the B9 in Kempen-Tönisberg recalls, with a ceramic relief, the 1284 Treaty of Vinnbrück – a medieval alliance that echoed four years later in the Battle of Worringen.

War Memorial

A cross-shaped brick war memorial from 1933 in St. Hubert, listed as a protected monument (No. 127).

War Memorial Unterweiden

A 1925 war memorial in Kempen's Unterweiden district, listed as a historic monument since 1990.

Landmarks & Sights