The Vulcano information platform has been closed since 2020 due to dilapidation and can therefore no longer be visited or used.
The observation tower
The platform on the Steineberger Ley was built in 2003 by the local Eifel community of Steineberg and inaugurated on October 3rd, 2003. The 28 meter high wooden tower offers a wonderful view over the Vulkaneifel to the Nürburgring, Moselle, Westerwald and Hunsrück. The space around the tower is regularly used by the surrounding communities as a venue for celebrations. Every year at the turn of the year, many visitors crowd the tower to enjoy the splendor of the fireworks in the Vulkaneifel.
Information about the tower
The viewing platform is at a height of 24 meters. The base of the tower, which weighs a total of 210 tons, consists of 6.5 tons of reinforcing steel and 90 cubic meters of concrete. Three 110-year-old Douglas fir trunks form the outer supports of the tower and were donated by the Rhineland-Palatinate “Landforsten”. The stairs and their supports were also made of Douglas fir. A total of 32 cubic meters of wood was used in the construction of the observation tower. The weight of the tower is 38 tons in addition to the foundation..
The Steineberger Ley
This is the top of the mountain on which Steineberg was built. It was created by volcanic activity around 35 million years ago. So already 10-15 million years before the surrounding Eifel Maare emerged. The Eifel expression ‘Ley’ indicates the nature of the mountain, because it means rock, slate. In the dense and legendary forest of the basalt dome, the remains of a Celtic ring wall can be discovered. It is believed that the crumbling walls are the remains of a Celtic castle from around 500 or 300-100 BC. The castle and the nearby barrows are protected cultural monuments, which is why excavations are prohibited there.