The Drachenfels is a hill in the Siebengebirge, a hill formation, sited on middle Rhine. Because of its history of being the quarry for a good part of the stones, used to build the Cologne Cathedral and because of the picturesque medieval castle ruin and the beautiful landscape it is a tourist hotspot. In the mid 70s the new restaurant was built, to meet the requirements of growing streams of tourists. Like many other Brutalist Buildings, the Drachenfels-Restaurant was received very controversially, mostly criticized for the pronounced disruption of the romantic scenery of the mountains and castle.

The numbers of visitors decreased in the 90s and the first decade of the 21st century, so that the building was clearly oversized for the demands. Together with the waning acceptance in the general public, this lead to plans for tearing down the restaurant and building a new one, that should be more unobtrusive. In 2008, there was a new contest for restructuring the Drachenfels plateau and in January through April 2011 the old restaurant was demolished. (Written by Amelie Rogall and Boris Dorau)