Stolberg, Germany

Stolberg (Rhld.) is a town of roughly 57,000 residents in the Aachen district of North Rhine-Westphalia, lying about 10 km east of Aachen and first documented in 1128. The 1529 Old Castle built by Wilhelm von Mirbach and the 1689 Burg Stolberg dominate the medieval town centre, where the marketplace's 1689 half-timbered houses rank among the best-preserved in the Aachen region. The 1700s brass industry produced plates, candlesticks, and gold-coloured brass known as "Stolberger Gold," and copper output peaked at 12,000 tonnes per year in the 1860s. The 1883 Stolberg Main Station linked the town to the Liège-Aachen railway.