The fact that the dragon is currently headless is down to its age: Fafner's neck has broken after decades of continuous exposure to wind and weather, and its head has sunk to the bottom of the pond. "I guess you call that material fatigue," says Marlies Blumenthal a little sadly. She owns the Nibelungen Hall and the Reptile Zoo, which are not far from the Drachenburg and halfway to the Drachenfels, and she runs both with her daughter Anja. But she certainly has no intention of hanging her head. And expert help for the dragon is already on the way.

"It has endured 90 years, in all weathers, because it is totally exposed," reports Blumenthal, who is the second generation to run the tourist attraction with the Nibelungenhalle and the neighbouring reptile zoo, and who now has the third generation at her side with daughter Anja. Her grandson had discovered that the dragon's head had fallen into the pond at the start of the spring and summer season in March, of all times, where the "smallest dragons at Drachenfels" (Blumenthal), the pond newts, are already cavorting again after the winter. "I haven't even looked at the photo my grandson took yet," says Blumenthal.

This is because for her, the imposing dragon is far more than a decorative object and an attraction for visitors; it is a piece of family history. "My father had the dragon made in 1933," she explains. In that very same year, Bernhard Juchmann had the dragon's cave added to the Nibelungen Hall, which had been built in 1913 for Richard Wagner's 100th birthday, specifically for the 50th anniversary of Wagner's death.

The dragon was designed and built by Franz Josef Krings, an architect and sculptor from Königswinter, who was also responsible for other stone and wrought-iron work on the shell and portal of the building. There you can see, for example, the gods Wotan and Loki or the heroes Hagen and Siegfried, all legendary figures that Wagner used in his opera cycle. He modelled the dragon on a primeval newt dinosaur from the Triassic period, which, according to legend, was killed by Siegfried and whose blood made him invulnerable - except for the spot where a lime leaf fell.

"And that's exactly how it will look again," says Blumenthal, whose parents first took over the hall as tenants in 1931 and later acquired it. She points to the original drawing that Krings made at the time and which now hangs in the entrance to the Nibelungen Hall: a blueprint for the dragon that also demonstrates the artistic talent of its creator. The broken edge at the neck of the actual counterpart, where there was also a support, allows even the uninformed to imagine how it was possible to model the massive body in the dragon's lair. Formed from metal struts, the body was given further contour with several layers of wire and then its striking shape with the serrated comb of concrete was carefully modelled, says Blumenthal.

Many visitors who venture down the narrow dim corridor to the dragon's cave and then suddenly find themselves standing before the creature again in broad daylight still to this day throw copper coins into the pond surrounding it. In the hope that their wish will be granted.

A specialist company will now ensure that Fafner will soon be able to look at them with his head held high again. According to Blumenthal, the experts will inspect the dragon for the first time this Tuesday. And of course she hopes that Fafner will be quickly helped. "Visitors always ask us two things straight away: where are the reptiles and where is the dragon? The dragon is simply part of the show," says Blumenthal.

Nibelungen Hall, Dragon's Lair and Reptile Zoo, Drachenfelsstraße 107, are open daily from 15 March to 1 November from 10.30 am to 6 p.m. Further information is also available at www.nibelungenhalle.de

(Original text: Claudia Sülzen; Translation: Jean Lennox)