Shell tower

The Schellenturm is a lookout tower built in 1824 from the ruins of Schell-Pyrmont Castle near Bad Pyrmont, which offers a magnificent view into and across the Pyrmont Valley. The surviving remains of the Schell-Pyrmont hilltop castle are evidence of the earliest form of settlement in the Pyrmont valley in 1184. The castle, built on a promontory in the south-west of the Schellenberg, was commissioned by the Archbishop of Cologne, Philipp von Heinsberg, who had been pursuing a systematic castle and fortification policy for some time. It was part of a fortification system far from the Rhine and the rich city of Cologne in order to pacify and settle the region between the Rhine and Weser. After extensive restoration work, the Schellenturm was reopened to the public in 2009 and has since invited many a hiker to take a short break.