Bonn

Bonn is a 327,258 inhabitants city located in the southern part of North Rhine-Westphalia on the banks of Rhine river. It used to be the capital of West Germany till the German reunification in 1990. Bonn is also well-known for being the birthplace of Ludwig van Beethoven, one of the greatest composers of all time. 

How do I arrive to Bonn?

  Bonn is quite well connected from the rest of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate too. 

• Plane: there are many international flights to Cologne-Bonn Airport, one of the largest low-cost hubs in Europe. To go from the airport to the city (Hauptbahnhof) there are buses (SB60, every 20 minutes) and taxis. It's 25 km northeast from the center of the city.
• Boat: there are boats from Bonn to Cologne and Koblenz.
• Train: there are frequent trains to Brühl (aprox. 10 minutes), Remagen (aprox. 20 minutes), Cologne (aprox. 30 minutes), Koblenz (aprox. 45 minutes), Düsseldorf (aprox. 1 hour) or Frankfurt am Main (aprox. 2 hours). 
• Bus: there are buses to many cities in NRW state (like Cologne, Düsseldorf, Aachen, Essen or Dortmund) and Rhineland-Palatinate state too.
• Car: if you rented a car from Bonn it can be reached Siebengebirge (aprox. 10 minutes), Cologne and Brühl (aprox. 30 minutes), Aachen, Düsseldorf and Eifel National Park (aprox. 1 hour). Bonn is quite close to destinations in Rhineland-Palatinate like Remagen (aprox. 30 minutes), Koblenz (aprox. 1 hour) or Trier (aprox. 1 hour 50 minutes).

History

Bonn's history dates back to the Roman period, when Romans and their Germanic allies (Ubii tribe), building a fort that was used by Frankish kings too known as Bonnburg. During Middle Ages the town grew around Münster basilica, built between the 11th and 13th centuries. In 1597 Bonn became the seat of the Archdiocese of Cologne, growing and gaining more influence. The elector Clemens August (1723–1761) ordered the construction of a series of Baroque buildings which still give the city its character and Max Franz (1784–1794), who founded the university, being a patron of the young Ludwig van Beethoven, who was born in Bonn in 1770. In 1794, the city became part of the First French Empire and, in 1815 after the Napoleonic Wars, Bonn became part of the Kingdom of Prussia (part of Rhine Province), being of little relevance in these years. Bonn became important during WW2 because of its strategic position, being captured by the Allies in 1945. After the war, Bonn was part of the British zone of occupation and, in 1949, it was named temporary capital of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) by Konrad Adenauer, seeing six Chancellors and six Presidents of the Federal Republic of Germany till the German reunification in 1990, becoming Berlin the new capital of the country. Bonn currently shares the status of Germany's seat of government with Berlin, with the President, the Chancellor and many government ministries maintaining substantial presences in the city.

What can I visit in Bonn?

 Bonn is a large city and has many distrits, being the most interesting ones Altstadt, Bundesviertel (former government district when Bonn was West Germany's capital, currently used for other federal institutions or international ones like UN), Nordstadt (former working-class district transformed into a popular one, particulary in spring with cherry trees bloosoming, around Breite Straße and Heerstraße) and Poppelsdorf (district with university buildings, full of students and crowded streets like ClemensAugust-Straße). Bonn has a self-guided route all over Bundesviertel, Weg der Demokratie, that expains 18 important places during the period when Bonn was West Germany's capital city, and Beethoven Tour, showing 22 places related to the genius. There's a card, Bonn Regio WelcomeCard, that includes 20 museums in the city (10€) and free transportation.

These are Bonn's main attractions:

Bonn Münster Basilica

• Bonn Münster Basilica (7-19; free): interesting Basilika, considered one of Germany's oldest churches, having been built between the 11th and 13th centuries. It was built where St. Cassius and Florentius (two Roman legionaries of the legendary all-Christian Theban Legion) were buried, first in Romanesque style (as it can be seen on its old cloister) but then Gothic. The basilica was an inspiration for the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin (because Kaiser Wilhelm II had studied Bonn). Outside the building it's located Münsterplatz, with an old yellow Baroque palace (currently used as a post office) and a nice statue of Beethoven (1845).
  
• Bonn Electoral Palace: 1705 palace built by Enrico Zuccalli that used to be home of Prince-Electors of Cologne and from 1818, part of Bonn University. In front of it there's Hofgarten, a large park in front of the main building, is a popular place for students to meet, study and relax.
• Bonn Old Town Hall: Baroque building with silver and gold molding. It has been used by politicians like Charles de Gaulle and John F. Kennedy to greet the crowd.

  

  Bonn University, former Bonn Electoral Palace

• St. Remigius Catholic Church: 14th century Gothic church from 1307. Here Johann van Beethoven and his wife were married and his son, Ludvig van Beethoven was baptised and was an organist here for some time. Its original organ was destroyed during WW2.
• Stiftung Namen-Jesu Catholic Church (11:30-14:30 Tue-Wed, 11:30-17:30 Thu-Sun; free): 18th century Baroque style church, considered most interesting Jesuit churches in northern Germany and has a nice façade. It's decoration is simple but beautiful.
• Beethoven-House Bonn (10-18; 10€/ 7€/ free  adults/ students/ kids under 6): humble hause where Ludwig van Beethoven was born in 1770. The house displays a collection of scores, letters, paintings and musical instruments (like his last grand piano), including the ear trumpets Beethoven used when starting going deaf. Nearby there's the Digital Beethoven-House, a multimedia exposition that introduces the visitor to Beethoven's music brilliance.

  

  Beethoven-Housen Bonn

• Bonn Egyptian Museum (13-17 Tue-Fri, 13-18 Sat-Sun; 2.50€/ free  adults/ kids under 16): museum, part of the University of Bonn, that presents the most important collection of objects (about 3,000) from Ancient Egypt in North Rhine-Westphalia.
• Academic Art Museum in Bonn (15-17 Tue-Fri, 11-18 Sun; 3€/ 1.50€  adults/ reduced): art museum placed in a Neoclassical building, considered the oldest museum in Bonn (1818). It houses the antique collection of the University of Bonn with more than 500 antique statues and reliefs, and over 2,000 originals.
• Arithmeum (11-18 Tue-Sun; 3€/ 2€  adults/ students and kids): museum that joins science, technology and art in a cube-shape building next to Hofgarten. It displays, among others, hundreds of calculators, historical math books or an exposition about microchips' aesthetics with microscopes.
• LVR Museum (11-18 Tue-Fri, 13-18 Sat-Sun; 8€/ 6€/ free  adults/ students/ kids under 18): museum from 1820 (considered one of the oldest in Germany) that displays a collection of archeological findings organised in theme exhibitions like From the Gods to God or The Rhineland and the World. The museum has a number of notable ancient busts and figures dating back to Roman times, a Neanderthal's skull and an uncommon blue glass Roman vessel.

  

  Museum Alexander Koenig

• Museum Koenig (10-18 Tue-Sun; 5€/ 2.50€  adults/ reduced): natural history museum different from traditional stuffed animal expositions. Its aim is researching and explaining the diversity of species of Earth in an educational way with expositions like Our blue planet - living in a network.
• Hammerschmidt Villa: manor built by August Dieckhoff in 1860 in Neo-classical style, as a stately home for a wealthy industrialist, redecorated in 1868 by Otto Penner. It was the primary official residence of the President of the Federal Republic of Germany (1950-1994) and currently it's the secondary residence.

  

  Exposition at Haus der Geschichte

• Haus der Geschichte (9-19 Tue-Fri, 10-18 Sat-Sun; free): clever and very interesting museum that shows the recent history of Germany, particulary focused in the period after WW2, where the visitor can enjoy and learn a lot. It has many iconic parts of Germany history like John F. Kennedy's speech Ich bin ein Berliner, a part of Berlin Wall, 1950s films, the arrest warrant of Erich Honecker or typical vehicles like Volkswagen Type 2 or the aircraft transport Raisin Bombers (used during the Soviet Berlin Blockade in 1948-1949).
• Bonn Museum of Modern Art (11-18 Tue-Sun; 7€/ 3.50€  adults/ students): Modern art museum with a shocking façade whose expositions are mostly focused in August Macke and other 20th century Expressionist artists from Rhineland. It has works of art by Joseph Beuys, Georg Baselitz and Anselm Kiefer as well as interesting temporary expositions.

  

  Bundeskunsthalle

• Bundeskunsthalle (10-21 Tue-Wed, 10-19 Thu-Sun; 17€/ 11.50€/ free  adults/ students/ kids under 18): museum that holds exhibitions relating to art and cultural history from around the world, being one of the most visited museums in Germany. The museum does not have its own collection but hosts temporary exhibitions relating to art, culture, history, science, technology and the environment.
• Bonn Women's Museum (14-18 Tue-Sat, 11-18 Sun; 6€/ 4.50€  adults/ reduced): museum that promotes female artists (being the first museum of its kind in the world) both from Germany and foreigners, owning works by Käthe Kollwitz, Katharina Sieverding, Valie Export, Maria Lassnig and Yoko Ono. It also organises temporary expositions.
• August Macke House (11-17 Tue-Sun; 9€/ 6€/ free  adults/ students/ kids under 6): Neo-classic house where this Expressionist artist lived the 3 last years of his life (before dying during WW1). The atmosphere seems to be frozen in time and takes the visitor to his time, being able to enjoy some original works by Macke (although most of them are at the Museum of Modern Art).

  

  Frescoes at Doppelkirche Schwarzrheindorf

• Doppelkirche Schwarzrheindorf (9-17 Thu-Sun; free): 12th century Romanesque "double church" with many interesting features like different seats for the upper class and the poor and spectacular 12th century frescoes, mainly explaining scenes from the Old Testament.
• Kreuzberg Church (8-20; free): Rococo style church with fake gold marble, frescoes and Balthasar Neumann's version of Scala Sancta (Rome).
• Bonn German Museum (10-17 Tue-Fri and Sun, 12-17 Sat; 9€/ 5€  adults/ kids under 18): interactive museum that shows objects made in Germany like air-bags or MP3, especially focused on German inventions since WW2. It's a branch of the same museum in Munich.

Schloss Drachenburg

About 7 km south from Bonn it can be located Siebengebirge, a hill range with more than 40 mountaints (7 of them are highest) next to Köningswinter (Keuningswintjer in Low Franconian) town. The highest one is Ölber (461 m) but the most popular one is Drachenfels. You can go up to the top on the mountain walking or using a funicular, Drachenfels Railway (one way 10€/ 5€/  adults/ kids under 13; round trip 12€/ 6€/  adults/ kids under 13), that has being working since 1883. Once there it can be visited Nibelungenhalle (10-18 from Mar to Nov; 11-16 from Dec to Feb; 6€/ 5€/ 4€  adults/ students/ kids under 14), a 1913 kind of templo that honours Richard Wagner with scenes of the German cycle of four epic music dramas Der Ring des Nibelungen. The entrance includes the access to Drachenhöhle, a cave with a 13 m long stone dragon and a small reptile zoo. Continuing going up there's the beautiful palace Schloss Drachenburg (11-19 from Jul to Aug; 11-18 from Mar to Jun and Sep to Nov; 12-17 from Jan to Feb; 7€/ 5€  adults/ reduced), a Neogothic castle built in 1880s by Baron Stephan von Sarter (broker and banker that never managed to live here) with a medieval outlook. It displays an intering explanation of its history but the best part of it are its views and the gardens. In the top of the mountain there's Burg Brachenfels, ruins of a medieval building destroyed during Thirty Year's War, with nice views too. There are also paths to enjoy nature too. Around Siebengebirge it can be visited some towns like Sankt Augustin (55,767 inhabitants) or Siegburg (41,463 inhabitants). The former has an interesting Schloss, Birlinghoven Palace, a 20th century castle built for Rautenstrauch family that currently belongs to Fraunhofer Gesellschaft; in the latter the visitor can go to Michaelsberg Abbey, an abbey that was founded in the 10th century with a very important brewery tradition that was closed in 2012.

Euskirchen

On the other side it can also be visited interesting places such as Euskirchen, a city with 58,381 inhabitants with important industrial heritage and birthplaced of Emil Fischer, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1902). In case of wanting to know more about cloth facturing the best idea is visiting Müller Cloth Mill (guided tours; 7€/ 4€  adults/ reduced), a branch of the Rhenish Industry Museum that teaches how cloth for clothing was made from the wool, showing the historical machines in operation and an authentic atmosphere of early industrial cloth production. The city has also a museum to learn more about its history and context, Euskirchen City Museum (15-18 Tue-Fri, 11-15 Sat, 11-18 Sun; 2€/ 1€  adults/ reduced), and around it there are many palaces that are privately owned.

Where can I do in Bonn?

As a birthplace of Beethoven, most of cultural activities are related to classic music both in Beethovenhalle (Wachsbleiche 16) and Kammermusiksaal (Bonngasse 20) particulary in the beginning of September, during Beethovenfest.

Where can I eat in Bonn?

Most of the choices to eat in Bonn are in Altstadt like the ice-cream parlor EisLabor (Maxstraße 16), cafe Blüte (Heerstraße 61), beer hall Brauhaus Bönnsch (Sterntorbrücke 4), cafe Spitz (Sterntorbrücke 10), cafe Pawlow (Heerstraße 64) or Biergaten Alter Zoll (Brassertufer).

Posted in: Europe,Germany,North Rhine-Westphalia