Bonn

Bonn
Municipality
Langer Eugen, centre of the UN Campus at the River Rhine in Bonn (view from the Post Tower).
Flag
Coat of arms
Location of Bonn
Bonn
Bonn
Coordinates: 50°44′N 7°6′E / 50.733°N 7.100°E / 50.733; 7.100
CountryGermany
StateNorth Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. regionCologne
DistrictKreisfreie Stadt
Founded1st century BC
Government
 • MayorKatja Dörner (Alliance 90/The Greens)
Area
 • Total141.22 km2 (54.53 sq mi)
Elevation
60 m (200 ft)
Population
 (2023-12-31)[1]
 • Total321,680
 • Density2,300/km2 (5,900/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes
53111–53229
Dialling codes0228
Vehicle registrationBN
Websitewww.bonn.de

Bonn (Latin: Bonna) is a city near Cologne. It is in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Bonn was founded on an old Roman settlement. In 2021 about 327,000 people lived there.

Following World War II Bonn was in the British occupation zone. In 1949 Bonn was chosen as the capital of West Germany.

Bonn was the choice of Konrad Adenauer, a former Cologne Mayor and the first Chancellor of West Germany after World War II, who came from that area. Frankfurt am Main had most of the needed facilities already, so using Bonn meant spending about 95 Million DM to building new roads and building. However, Frankfurt am Main had been an important city during the war, and choosing Bonn was to symbolise a new start for the new Germany.

Because of its relatively small size for a capital city, Bonn was sometimes jokingly called the Bundesdorf (Federal Village).

Bonn was the capital of West Germany from 1949 until 1990. The Bundestag voted to move to Berlin on 20 June 1991, after a heated debate. The Federal President had already decided to make Schloß Bellevue in Berlin his main official residence. The extra building work needed meant it was 1999 before the government's move was completed.

Main sights

Beethoven's birthplace is located at Bonngasse. Next to the market place is the Old Town Hall, built in 1737 in Rococo style, under the rule of Clemens August of Bavaria. It's used for receptions of guests of the town, and as a bureau for the mayor. Close by is the Kurfürstliches Schloss, which was built as a residence of the prince-elector, and nowadays is the main building of the University of Bonn.

The Poppelsdorfer Allee, an alley flanked by chestnut trees, connects the Kurfürstliches Schloss with the Poppelsdorfer Schloss, a palace that was built as a resort to prince-electors in the first half of the 18th century. This axis is interrupted by a railway line and Bonn Central Station, a building erected in 1883/84.

The three highest buildings in the city are the radio mast of WDR in Bonn-Venusberg (180 m), the headquarters of the Deutsche Post called Post Tower (162.5 m) and the former building for the German members of parliament Langer Eugen (114.7 m) which nowadays is the new location of the UN-Campus.

Churches

  • Bonn Minster [1] Archived 2009-02-15 at the Wayback Machine
  • Doppelkirche (Double Church) Schwarzrheindorf built in 1151
  • Old Cemetery Bonn, one of the best known ones in Germany

Castles and residences

Modern buildings

  • Bundesviertel (federal quarter) with lots of government structures including
    • Post Tower, the tallest building in the state North Rhine-Westphalia, housing the headquarters of the Deutsche Post AG
    • Deutsche Telekom headquarters
    • T-Mobile headquarters
    • Maritim Bonn, 5 star hotel and convention centre
    • Schürmann-Bau, headquarters of Deutsche Welle
    • Langer Eugen, since 2006 the centre of the United Nations Campus, formerly housing the offices of the members of the German parliament

Museums

Universities

Schools

Nature

  • Botanischer Garten (Botanical Garden), where Titan arum reached a world record
  • Rheinaue (Bonn), a leisure park on the banks of the Rhine
  • Rhine promenade and the Alter Zoll (Old Toll Station)
  • In the very south of the city on the border to Wachtberg and Rhineland-Palatinate is the extinct volcano Rodderberg

Twin towns

References

  1. ↑ "Bevölkerung der Gemeinden Nordrhein-Westfalens am 31. Dezember 2023 – Fortschreibung des Bevölkerungsstandes auf Basis des Zensus vom 9. Mai 2011" (in German). Landesbetrieb Information und Technik NRW. Retrieved 2025-04-27.

Other websites

Media related to Bonn at Wikimedia Commons
The dictionary definition of Bonn at Wiktionary

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