Bonn () is a

federal city The term federal city is a title for certain cities in Germany, Switzerland, Russia, and several national capitals. Germany In Germany, the former West German capital Bonn has been designated with the title of federal city (''Bundesstadt''), ma ...

in the German state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

, located on the banks of the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, in the southernmost part of the

Rhine-Ruhr The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region () is the Metropolitan regions in Germany, largest metropolitan region in Germany, with over ten million inhabitants. A wikt:polycentric, polycentric conurbation with several major urban concentrations, the reg ...

region. This metropolitan area, Germany's largest, is also the second largest in the European Union by GDP, with over 11 million residents. Bonn served as the capital of

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

from 1949 until 1990 and was the seat of government for reunified Germany until 1999, when the government relocated to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. The city holds historical significance as the birthplace of Germany's current constitution, the

Basic Law A basic law is either a codified constitution, or in countries with uncodified constitutions, a law designed to have the effect of a constitution. The term ''basic law'' is used in some places as an alternative to "constitution" and may be inte ...

. Founded in the 1st century BC as a settlement of the

Ubii 350px, The Ubii around AD 30 The Ubii were a Germanic tribe first encountered dwelling on the east bank of the Rhine in the time of Julius Caesar, who formed an alliance with them in 55 BC in order to launch attacks across the river. They were ...

and later part of the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

province

Germania Inferior ''Germania Inferior'' ("Lower Germania") was a Roman province from AD 85 until the province was renamed ''Germania Secunda'' in the 4th century AD, on the west bank of the Rhine bordering the North Sea. The capital of the province was Colonia Cl ...

, Bonn is among Germany's oldest cities. It was the capital city of the

Electorate of Cologne The Electorate of Cologne (), sometimes referred to as Electoral Cologne (), was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that existed from the 10th to the early 19th century. It consisted of the Hochstift—the temporal posses ...

from 1597 to 1794 and served as the residence of the Archbishops and Prince-electors of

. The period during which Bonn was the capital of West Germany is often referred to by historians as the ''

Bonn Republic West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republic after its capital c ...

''. Following the German reunification, a political compromise known as the

Berlin-Bonn Act The Berlin/Bonn Act () regulated the move of the Bundestag and parts of the government of Germany from Bonn to Berlin. It also regulated the move of certain Federal agencies and other German federal facilities to Bonn. The act was a consequence ...

ensured that the German federal government retained a significant presence in Bonn. As of 2019, approximately one-third of all ministerial jobs remain in the city. Bonn is considered an unofficial secondary capital of Germany and is the location of the secondary seats of the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

, the

chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

, and the Bundesrat. Bonn is also the location of the primary seats of six federal ministries and twenty federal authorities. The city's title as Federal City () underscores its political importance. The global headquarters of

Deutsche Post DHL Deutsche Post AG (), trade name, trading as DHL Group, is a German multinational corporation, multinational package delivery and supply chain management company headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It is one of the world's largest courier companies ...

and

Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (, ; often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a partially state-owned German telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn and the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. It was formed in 199 ...

, both

DAX The DAX (''Deutscher Aktienindex'' (German stock index); ) is a stock market index consisting of the 40 major German blue chip companies trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. It is a total return index. Prices are taken from the Xetra t ...

-listed corporations, are in Bonn. The city is home to the

University of Bonn The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...

and a total of 20 United Nations institutions, the highest number in all of Germany. These institutions include the headquarters for Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Secretariat of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and the UN Volunteers programme. Birthplace of composer

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

, a center of Rhenish carnival, and its geography by the

Middle Rhine Middle Rhine (, ; kilometres 529 to 660 of the Rhine) is the section of the Rhine between Bingen and Bonn in Germany. It flows through the Rhine Gorge (), a formation created by erosion, which happened at about the same rate as an uplift i ...

make it an important tourist destination.

Geography

Topography

Situated in the southernmost part of the

region, Germany's largest metropolitan area with over 11 million inhabitants, Bonn lies within the

German state The Federal Republic of Germany is a federation and consists of sixteen partly sovereign ''states''. Of the sixteen states, thirteen are so-called area-states ('Flächenländer'); in these, below the level of the state government, there is a ...

, on the border with

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

. Spanning an area of more on both sides of the river

, almost three-quarters of the city lies on the river's left bank. To the south and to the west, Bonn borders the

Eifel The Eifel (; , ) is a low mountain range in western Germany, eastern Belgium and northern Luxembourg. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Com ...

region which encompasses the Rhineland Nature Park. To the north, Bonn borders the

Cologne Lowland The Cologne Lowland,Dickinson 1953, 35, 461–64, 466–73.Elkins 1968, 229. also called the Cologne Bay or, less commonly, the Cologne Bight (, ), is a densely populated area of Germany lying between the cities of Bonn, Aachen, and Düsseldorf/Neus ...

. Natural borders are constituted by the river

Sieg Sieg may refer to: People * Carl Sieg (1784–1845), German painter and lithographer * Victor Sieg (1837–1899), French composer and organist * Lee Paul Sieg (1879–1963), a former president of the University of Washington * Paul Eugen Si ...

to the north-east and by the

Siebengebirge The (), occasionally Sieben Mountains or Seven Mountains, are a hill range of the German Central Uplands on the east bank of the Middle Rhine, southeast of Bonn. Description The area, located in the municipalities of Bad Honnef and Königswin ...

(also known as the Seven Hills) to the east. The largest extension of the city in north–south dimensions is and in west–east dimensions. The city borders have a total length of . The geographical centre of Bonn is the Bundeskanzlerplatz ''(Chancellor Square)'' in Bonn-Gronau.

Administration

The

is divided into five governmental districts (), and Bonn is part of the governmental district of Cologne (). Within this governmental district, the city of Bonn is an

urban district An urban district is a division generally managed by a local government. It may also refer to a city district, district, urban area or quarter Specific urban districts in some countries include: * Urban districts of Denmark * Districts of Germa ...

in its own right. The urban district of Bonn is then again divided into four administrative municipal districts (). These are Bonn, Bonn-Bad Godesberg, Bonn-Beuel and Bonn-Hardtberg. In 1969, the independent towns of

Bad Godesberg Bad Godesberg () is a borough () of Bonn, southern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. From 1949 to 1999, while Bonn was the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany, most foreign embassies were in Bad Godesberg. Some buildings are still used as br ...

and Beuel as well as several villages were incorporated into Bonn, resulting in a city more than twice as large as before.

Climate

Bonn has an

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Cfb''; Trewartha: ''Dobk''). In the south of the Cologne lowland in the Rhine valley, Bonn is in one of Germany's warmest regions. The Bonn weather station has recorded the following extreme values: * Its highest temperature was on 25 July 2019. * Its lowest temperature was on 27 January 1942. * Its greatest annual precipitation was in 2007. * Its least annual precipitation was in 1959. * The longest annual sunshine was 2013.9 hours in 2018. * The shortest annual sunshine was 1240.7 hours in 1981.

History

Founding and Roman period

The history of the city dates back to Roman times. In about 12 BC, the

Roman army The Roman army () served ancient Rome and the Roman people, enduring through the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC), the Roman Republic (509–27 BC), and the Roman Empire (27 BC–AD 1453), including the Western Roman Empire (collapsed Fall of the W ...

appears to have stationed a small unit in what is presently the historical centre of the city. Even earlier, the army had resettled members of a Germanic tribal group allied with Rome, the

, in Bonn. The Latin name for that settlement, "Bonna", may stem from the original population of this and many other settlements in the area, the Eburoni. Bona is

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

for tribe. The Eburoni were members of a large tribal coalition effectively wiped out during the final phase of

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war. He ...

's War in Gaul. After several decades, the army gave up the small camp linked to the Ubii-settlement. During the 1st century AD, the army then chose a site to the north of the emerging town in what is now the section of Bonn-Castell to build a large military installation dubbed

Castra ''Castra'' () is a Latin language, Latin term used during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire for a military 'camp', and ''castrum'' () for a 'Fortification, fort'. Either could refer to a building or plot of land, used as a fortified milita ...

Bonnensis, i.e., literally, "Fort Bonn". Initially built from wood, the fort was eventually rebuilt in stone. With additions, changes and new construction, the fort remained in use by the army into the waning days of the

Western Roman Empire In modern historiography, the Western Roman Empire was the western provinces of the Roman Empire, collectively, during any period in which they were administered separately from the eastern provinces by a separate, independent imperial court. ...

, possibly the mid-5th century. The structures themselves remained standing well into the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, when they were called the Bonnburg. They were used by

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages, a group of Low Germanic languages also commonly referred to as "Frankish" varieties * Francia, a post-Roman ...

kings until they fell into disuse. Eventually, much of the building materials seem to have been re-used in the construction of Bonn's 13th-century

city wall A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or Earthworks (military), earthworks to extensive military fortifications such as ...

. The (''star gate'') in the city center is a reconstruction using the last remnants of the medieval city wall. To date, Bonn's Roman fort remains the largest fort of its type known from the

ancient world Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient h ...

, i.e. a fort built to accommodate a full-strength Imperial Legion and its auxiliaries. The fort covered an area of approximately . Between its walls it contained a dense grid of streets and a multitude of buildings, ranging from spacious headquarters and large officers' quarters to

barracks Barracks are buildings used to accommodate military personnel and quasi-military personnel such as police. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word 'soldier's tent', but today barracks ar ...

stable A stable is a building in which working animals are kept, especially horses or oxen. The building is usually divided into stalls, and may include storage for equipment and feed. Styles There are many different types of stables in use tod ...

s and a military jail. Among the legions stationed in Bonn, the "1st", i.e. the Prima Legio Minervia, seems to have served here the longest. Units of the Bonn legion were deployed to theatres of war ranging from modern-day

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

to what is now the Russian republic of

Chechnya Chechnya, officially the Chechen Republic, is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia. It is situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, between the Caspian Sea and Black Sea. The republic forms a part of the North Caucasian Federa ...

The chief

Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

linking the provincial capitals of Cologne and

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

cut right through the fort where it joined the fort's main road (now, Römerstraße). Once past the South Gate, the Cologne–Mainz road continued along what are now streets named Belderberg, Adenauerallee et al. On both sides of the road, the local settlement, ''Bonna'', grew into a sizeable Roman town. Bonn is shown on the 4th century

Peutinger Map ' (Latin for 'The Peutinger Map'), also known as Peutinger's Tabula, Peutinger tables James Strong and John McClintock (1880)"Eleutheropolis" In: ''The Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature''. NY: Haper and Brothers ...

. In

late antiquity Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown (historian), Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodiza ...

, much of the town seems to have been destroyed by marauding invaders. The remaining civilian population then took refuge inside the fort along with the remnants of the troops stationed here. During the final decades of Imperial rule, the troops were supplied by Franci chieftains employed by the Roman administration. When the end came, these troops simply shifted their allegiances to the new barbarian rulers, the

Kingdom of the Franks The Kingdom of the Franks (), also known as the Frankish Kingdom, or just Francia, was the largest post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Frankish Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties during the Early Middle Ag ...

. From the fort, the Bonnburg, as well as from a new medieval settlement to the South centered around what later became the minster, grew the medieval city of Bonn. Local legends arose from this period that the name of the village came from

Saint Boniface Boniface, OSB (born Wynfreth; 675 –5 June 754) was an English Benedictines, Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of Francia during the eighth century. He organised significant foundations of ...

via

Vulgar Latin Vulgar Latin, also known as Colloquial, Popular, Spoken or Vernacular Latin, is the range of non-formal Register (sociolinguistics), registers of Latin spoken from the Crisis of the Roman Republic, Late Roman Republic onward. ''Vulgar Latin'' a ...

''*Bonnifatia'', but this proved to be a myth.

Middle ages and early modern period

Between the 11th and 13th centuries, the Romanesque style Bonn Minster was built, and in 1597 Bonn became the seat of the

Archdiocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

. The city gained more influence and grew considerably. The city was subject to a major bombardment during the Siege of Bonn in 1689. Bonn was then returned to Cologne where it remained the capital at the

Peace of Ryswick The Peace of Ryswick, or Rijswijk, was a series of treaties signed in the Dutch city of Rijswijk between 20 September and 30 October 1697. They ended the 1688 to 1697 Nine Years' War between France and the Grand Alliance, which included the Dutc ...

. The

elector Elector may refer to: * Prince-elector or elector, a member of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Holy Roman Emperors * Elector, a member of an electoral college ** Confederate elector, a member of t ...

Clemens August (ruled 1723–1761) ordered the construction of a series of

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

buildings which still give the city its character. Another memorable ruler was

Max Franz Max Franz (born 1 September 1989) is an Austrian World Cup alpine ski racer. Born in Klagenfurt, Carinthia, he focuses on the speed events of Downhill and Super-G. Career Franz made his World Cup debut in November 2009 at Lake Louise, Cana ...

(ruled 1784–1794), who founded the university and the spa quarter of

. In addition he was a patron of the young

, who was born in Bonn in 1770; the elector financed the composer's first journey to

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. In 1794, the city was seized by French troops, becoming a part of the

First French Empire The First French Empire or French Empire (; ), also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. It lasted from ...

. In 1815 following the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

, Bonn became part of the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

. Administered within the Prussian

Rhine Province The Rhine Province (), also known as Rhenish Prussia () or synonymous with the Rhineland (), was the westernmost Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822 to 1946. ...

, the city became part of the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

in 1871 during the Prussian-led

unification of Germany The unification of Germany (, ) was a process of building the first nation-state for Germans with federalism, federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany (one without Habsburgs' multi-ethnic Austria or its German-speaking part). I ...

. Bonn was of little relevance in these years.

20th century and the "Bonn Republic"

During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Bonn acquired military significance because of its strategic location on the Rhine, which formed a natural barrier to easy penetration into the German heartland from the west. The Allied ground advance into Germany reached Bonn on 7 March 1945, and the US 1st Infantry Division captured the city during the battle of 8–9 March 1945.

After After may refer to: Literature * ''After'' (Elgar), an 1895 poem by Philip Bourke Marston set to music by Edward Elgar * ''After'' (Prose novel), a 2003 novel by Francine Prose * ''After'' (Chalifour book), a 2005 book by Canadian writer Francis ...

the Second World War, Bonn was in the British zone of occupation. Following the advocacy of West Germany's first chancellor,

Konrad Adenauer Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German statesman and politician who served as the first Chancellor of Germany, chancellor of West Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the first leader of th ...

, a former Cologne Mayor and a native of that area, Bonn became the ''de facto'' capital and

seat of government The seat of government is (as defined by ''Brewer's Politics'') "the building, complex of buildings or the city from which a government exercises its authority". In most countries, the nation's Capital city, capital is also seat of its governmen ...

, officially designated the "temporary seat of the Federal institutions" of the newly formed Federal Republic of Germany in 1949. However, the Bundestag, seated in Bonn's Bundeshaus, affirmed

's status as the German capital. Bonn was chosen as the provisional capital and seat of government despite the fact that

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

already had most of the required facilities and using Bonn was estimated to be 95 million DM more expensive than using Frankfurt. Bonn was chosen because Adenauer and other prominent West German politicians intended to make Berlin the capital of a reunified Germany, and they felt that locating the provisional capital in a major city like Frankfurt or

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

would imply a permanent capital and plausibly weaken support in West Germany for a future reunification. In 1949, the

Parliamentary Council The Parliamentary Council was a constitutional authority in Sri Lanka established under the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka, 18th Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka. Formally being constituted on January 1, 2011 as pe ...

in Bonn drafted and adopted the current German constitution, the

Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany () is the constitution of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The West German Constitution was approved in Bonn on 8 May 1949 and came into effect on 23 May after having been approved b ...

. As the political centre of West Germany, Bonn saw six Chancellors and six

Presidents President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *''Præsidenten ...

of the Federal Republic of Germany. Bonn's time as the capital of West Germany is commonly referred to as the ''

'', in contrast to the ''

Berlin Republic Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

'' which followed reunification in 1990.

After national reunification

Villa Hammerschmidt Bonn Seite Adenauerallee 20080831

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

in 1990 made Berlin the nominal capital of Germany again. This decision, however, did not mandate that the republic's political institutions would also move. While some argued for the seat of government to move to Berlin, others advocated leaving it in Bonn – a situation roughly analogous to that of the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, where

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

is the capital but

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

is the seat of government. Berlin's previous history as united Germany's capital was strongly connected with the

, the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

and more ominously with both

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

and

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

. It was felt that a new peacefully united Germany should not be governed from a city connected to such overtones of war. Additionally, Bonn was closer to

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, headquarters of the

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

. Former West German chancellor and mayor of

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

Willy Brandt Willy Brandt (; born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm; 18 December 1913 – 8 October 1992) was a German politician and statesman who was leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1964 to 1987 and concurrently served as the Chancellor ...

caused considerable offence to the Western Allies during the debate by stating that France would not have kept the seat of government at

Vichy Vichy (, ; ) is a city in the central French department of Allier. Located on the Allier river, it is a major spa and resort town and during World War II was the capital of Vichy France. As of 2021, Vichy has a population of 25,789. Known f ...

after Liberation. The heated debate that resulted was settled by the ''

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

'' (Germany's parliament) only on 20 June 1991. By a vote of 338–320, the Bundestag voted to move the seat of government to Berlin. The vote broke largely along regional lines, with legislators from the south and west favouring Bonn and legislators from the north and east voting for Berlin. It also broke along generational lines as well; older legislators with memories of Berlin's past glory favoured Berlin, while younger legislators favoured Bonn. Ultimately, the votes of the eastern German legislators tipped the balance in favour of Berlin. From 1990 to 1999, Bonn served as the seat of government of reunited Germany. In recognition of its former status as German capital, it holds the name of Federal City (). Bonn currently shares the status of Germany's seat of government with Berlin, with the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

, the

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

and many government ministries (such as Food & Agriculture and

Defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

) maintaining large presences in Bonn. Over 8,000 of the 18,000 federal officials remain in Bonn. A total of 19 United Nations (UN) institutions operate from Bonn today.

Politics and government

Mayor

The current mayor of Bonn is

Katja Dörner Katja Dörner (born 18 February 1976) is a German politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens who has been serving as mayor of Bonn since 2020. From 2009 until 2020, she was a member of the Bundestag. Education and early career Dörner studied poli ...

Alliance 90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (, ), often simply referred to as Greens (, ), is a Green (politics), green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of the Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (formed in East Ger ...

since 2020. She defeated incumbent mayor

Ashok-Alexander Sridharan Ashok-Alexander Sridharan is a German politician partly of Indian ancestry who served as Mayor of Bonn from 2015 until 2020. He is a member of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU). He was the first mayor of Bonn to be of an immigrant ...

in the most recent mayoral election, which was held on 13 September 2020, with a runoff held on 27 September. The results were as follows: ! rowspan=2 colspan=2, Candidate ! rowspan=2, Party ! colspan=2, First round ! colspan=2, Second round , - ! Votes ! % ! Votes ! % , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

, align=left, Christian Democratic Union , 48,454 , 34.5 , 52,762 , 43.7 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

, align=left,

, 38,793 , 27.6 , 67,880 , 56.3 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Lissi von Bülow , align=left,

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

, 28,389 , 20.2 , - , , align=left, Christoph Artur Manka , align=left, Citizens' League Bonn , 8,694 , 6.2 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Michael Faber , align=left, The Left , 7,032 , 5.0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Werner Hümmrich , align=left, Free Democratic Party , 4,853 , 3.5 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Frank Rudolf Christian Findeiß , align=left,

Die PARTEI (''Party for Labour, Rule of Law, Animal Protection, Promotion of Elites and Grassroots Democratic Initiative''), or Die PARTEI (''The PARTY''), is a German political party. It was founded in 2004 by the editors of the German satirical magazine ...

, 2,873 , 2.0 , - , , align=left, Kaisa Ilunga , align=left, Alliance for Innovation and Justice , 1,507 , 1.1 , - ! colspan=3, Valid votes ! 140,595 ! 99.1 ! 120,642 ! 99.5 , - ! colspan=3, Invalid votes ! 1,219 ! 0.9 ! 627 ! 0.5 , - ! colspan=3, Total ! 141,814 ! 100.0 ! 121,269 ! 100.0 , - ! colspan=3, Electorate/voter turnout ! 249,091 ! 56.9 ! 249,098 ! 48.7 , - , colspan=7, Source
State Returning Officer

City council

The Bonn city council governs the city alongside the mayor. It used to be based in the

Rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

-style ' (old city hall), built in 1737, located adjacent to Bonn's central market square. However, due to the enlargement of Bonn in 1969 through the incorporation of Beuel and Bad Godesberg, it moved into the larger Stadthaus facilities further north. This was necessary for the city council to accommodate an increased number of representatives. The mayor of Bonn still sits in the ', which is also used for representative and official purposes. The most recent city council election was held on 13 September 2020, and the results were as follows: ! colspan=2, Party ! Votes ! % ! +/- ! Seats ! +/- , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(Grüne) , 39,311 , 27.9 , 9.2 , 19 , 3 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) , 36,315 , 25.7 , 4.7 , 17 , 10 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(SPD) , 21,956 , 15.6 , 7.9 , 11 , 9 , - , , align=left, Citizens' League Bonn (BBB) , 9,948 , 7.1 , 2.0 , 5 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, The Left (Die Linke) , 8,745 , 6.2 , 0.0 , 4 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Free Democratic Party (FDP) , 7,268 , 5.2 , 3.0 , 3 , 4 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

Volt Germany Volt Germany (, mostly known by the abbreviated name Volt) is a social-liberal pro-European, eurofederalist political party in Germany. It is the German branch of Volt Europa, a political movement that operates on a European level. Italian A ...

(Volt) , 7,148 , 5.1 , New , 3 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

Alternative for Germany Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a Far-right politics in Germany (1945–present), far-right,Far-right: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative p ...

(AfD) , 4,569 , 3.2 , 0.4 , 2 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(PARTEI) , 3,095 , 2.2 , New , 1 , New , - , , align=left, Alliance for Innovation and Justice (BIG) , 1,775 , 1.3 , 0.2 , 1 , ±0 , - , colspan=7 bgcolor=lightgrey, , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

Pirate Party Germany The Pirate Party Germany (), commonly known as Pirates (), is a political party in Germany founded in September 2006 at c-base. It states general agreement with the Swedish Piratpartiet as a party of the information society; it is part of the i ...

(Piraten) , 869 , 0.6 , 1.6 , 0 , 2 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Independents , 101 , 0.1 , – , 0 , – , - ! colspan=2, Valid votes ! 141,100 ! 99.3 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Invalid votes ! 1,052 ! 0.7 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Total ! 142,152 ! 100.0 ! ! 66 ! 20 , - ! colspan=2, Electorate/voter turnout ! 249,091 ! 57.1 ! 0.3 ! ! , - , colspan=7, Source
State Returning Officer

State government

Four delegates represent the Federal city of Bonn in the

Landtag A ''Landtag'' (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence ...

. The last election took place in May 2022. The current delegates are Guido Déus ( CDU), Christos Katzidis (CDU), Joachim Stamp ( FDP), Tim Achtermeyer (Greens) and Dr. Julia Höller (Greens)

Federal government

Bonn's

constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

is called ' (096). In the German federal election 2017, Ulrich Kelber (

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together wi ...

) was elected a member of German Federal parliament, the Bundestag by direct mandate. It is his fifth term.

representing Bündnis 90/Die Grünen and Alexander Graf Lambsdorff for FDP were elected as well. Kelber resigned in 2019 because he was appointed

Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information The Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI, ), referring to either a person or the agency they lead, is tasked with supervising data protection as well as acting in an ombudsman function in freedom of inf ...

. As Dörner was elected Lord Mayor of Bonn in September 2020, she resigned as a member of parliament after her entry into office.

Culture

Beethoven's birthplace is located in Bonngasse near the market place. Next to the market place is the Old City Hall, built in 1737 in

style, under the rule of

Clemens August of Bavaria Clemens August of Bavaria () (17 August 1700 – 6 February 1761) was an 18th-century member of the Wittelsbach dynasty of Bavaria and Archbishop-Elector of Cologne. Biography Clemens August (Clementus Augustus) was born in Brussels, the son of ...

. It is used for receptions of guests of the city, and as an office for the mayor. Nearby is the '' Kurfürstliches Schloss'', built as a residence for the prince-elector and now the main building of the

. The ''Poppelsdorfer Allee'' is an avenue flanked by

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Description ...

trees which had the first

horsecar A horsecar, horse-drawn tram, horse-drawn streetcar (U.S.), or horse-drawn railway (historical), is a tram or streetcar pulled by a horse. Summary The horse-drawn tram (horsecar) was an early form of public transport, public rail transport, ...

of the city. It connects the ''Kurfürstliches Schloss'' with the '' Poppelsdorfer Schloss'', a palace that was built as a resort for the prince-electors in the first half of the 18th century, and whose grounds are now a

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...

(the Botanischer Garten Bonn). This axis is interrupted by a railway line and

Bonn Hauptbahnhof Bonn Hauptbahnhof (''Bonn Central Station)'' is a railway station located on the left bank of the Rhine along the West Rhine Railway, Cologne–Mainz line. It is the principal station serving the city of Bonn. In addition to extensive rail servi ...

, a building erected in 1883/84. The Beethoven Monument stands on the Münsterplatz, which is flanked by the

Bonn Minster Bonn Minster () is a Catholic church in Bonn. It is one of Germany's oldest churches, having been built between the 11th and 13th centuries. At one point the church served as the de facto cathedral for the Archbishopric of Cologne, because it is t ...

, one of Germany's oldest churches. The three highest structures in the city are the WDR

radio mast Radio masts and towers are typically tall structures designed to support antenna (radio), antennas for telecommunications and broadcasting, including television. There are two main types: guyed and self-supporting structures. They are among the ...

in Bonn-Venusberg (), the headquarters of the

Deutsche Post (, ) is a brand of the DHL Group (listed as ), used for its domestic mail services in Germany. The services offered under the brand are those of a traditional mail service, making the brand the successor of the former state-owned mail monopoly ...

called ''

Post Tower Post Tower is the headquarters of the logistic company DHL Group with the two brands: the Deutsche Post postal services and the DHL logistics service, located in Bonn, Germany. Standing at and 41 storeys, it is the sixteenth tallest skyscr ...

'' () and the former building for the German members of parliament ''

Langer Eugen Langer Eugen (English: “Tall Eugene”) is an office tower in the Gronau district of Bonn, Germany. It was built between 1966 and 1969. Since 2006 it has housed several United Nations organizations. Until the German Bundestag (parliament) ...

'' () now the location of the UN Campus.

Churches

* Doppelkirche Schwarzrheindorf built in 1151 * Old Cemetery Bonn (''Alter Friedhof''), one of the best known cemeteries in Germany * , built in 1627 with

Johann Balthasar Neumann Johann Balthasar Neumann (; c. 27 January 1687 – 19 August 1753), usually known as Balthasar Neumann, was a German architect and military artillery engineer who developed a refined brand of Baroque architecture, fusing Austrian, Bohemian, Ita ...

's ''Heilige Stiege'', it is a stairway for Christian pilgrims * St. Remigius, where Beethoven was baptized

Castles and residences

Godesburg 300px, Godesburg castle in Germany. The Godesburg is a castle in Bad Godesberg, a formerly independent part of Bonn, Germany. Built in the early 13th century on the Godesberg, a hill of volcanic origin, it was largely destroyed following a sieg ...

fortress ruins * The Röttgen suburb was once home to

Schloss Herzogsfreude Schloss Herzogsfreude (also named Joy-le-Duc, the duke's pleasure) was a palace in Röttgen, part of the city of Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was a summer residence and hunting lodge of Clemens August of Bavaria, Electorate of Colog ...

, now lost, but once a hunting lodge of elector Clemens August.

Modern buildings

Beethovenhalle The Beethovenhalle () is a concert hall in Bonn. It is the third hall in the city to bear the name of the Bonn-born composer Ludwig van Beethoven. The initial building was constructed in 1845 to commemorate the unveilling of the Beethoven monumen ...

* Bundesviertel (federal quarter) with many government structures including **

, the tallest building in the state

, housing the headquarters of

DHL DHL (originally named after founders Dalsey, Hillblom and Lynn) is a multinational Import-Export Expert Company, founded in the United States and headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It provides courier, package delivery, and express mail service, ...

** Maritim Bonn, five-star hotel and convention centre ** Schürmann-Bau, headquarters of

Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave"), commonly shortened to DW (), is a German state-funded television network, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the Federal Government of Germany. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite tele ...

** Langer Eugen, since 2006 the centre of the United Nations Campus, formerly housing the offices of the members of the German parliament *

headquarters * Telekom Deutschland headquarters * Kameha Grand, five-star hotel

Museums

Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland - Bundeskunsthalle-9245

Just as Bonn's other four major museums, the ''

Haus der Geschichte Haus der Geschichte (officially ''Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland'', i.e. "House of the History of the Federal Republic of Germany") is a museum of contemporary history in Bonn, Germany. With around one million visitors ever ...

'' or Museum of the History of the Federal Republic of Germany, is located on the so-called ''Museumsmeile'' ("Museum Mile")''.'' The Haus der Geschichte is one of the foremost German museums of contemporary German history, with branches in

and

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

. In its permanent exhibition, the Haus der Geschichte presents German history from 1945 until the present, also shedding light on Bonn's own role as former capital of West Germany. Numerous temporary exhibitions emphasize different features, such as Nazism or important personalities in German history. The ''

Kunstmuseum Bonn The Kunstmuseum Bonn or Bonn Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Bonn, Germany, founded in 1947. The Kunstmuseum exhibits both temporary exhibitions and its collection. Its collection is focused on Rhenish Expressionism and post-war German ...

'' or Bonn Museum of Modern Art is an art museum founded in 1947. The Kunstmuseum exhibits both temporary exhibitions and its permanent collection. The latter is focused on Rhenish

Expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

and post-war German art. German artists on display include

Georg Baselitz Georg Baselitz (born 23 January 1938) is a German Painting, painter, Sculpture, sculptor and Graphic arts, graphic artist. In the 1960s he became well known for his Figurative art, figurative, expressive paintings. In 1969 he began painting his ...

Joseph Beuys Joseph Heinrich Beuys ( ; ; 12 May 1921 – 23 January 1986) was a German artist, teacher, performance artist, and Aesthetics, art theorist whose work reflected concepts of humanism and sociology. With Heinrich Böll, , Caroline Tisdall, Rober ...

Hanne Darboven Hanne Darboven (29 April 1941 – 9 March 2009) was a German conceptual artist, best known for her large-scale minimalist installations consisting of handwritten tables of numbers. Early life and career Darboven was born in 1941 in Munich. She ...

Anselm Kiefer Anselm Kiefer (born 8 March 1945) is a German painter and sculptor. He studied with Peter Dreher and Horst Antes at the end of the 1960s. His works incorporate materials such as straw, ash, clay, lead, and shellac. The poems of Paul Celan h ...

Blinky Palermo Blinky Palermo, artistic name of ''Peter Schwarze'' (2 June 1943 - 18 February 1977), was a German abstract painter. He was inspired by painters like Kazimir Malevich, Barnett Newman and Ellsworth Kelly. Life and career Palermo was born Peter ...

and

Wolf Vostell Wolf Vostell (14 October 1932 – 3 April 1998) was a German painter and sculptor, considered one of the early adopters of video art and installation art and pioneer of Happenings and Fluxus. Techniques such as blurring and Dé-coll/age are ...

. The museum owns one of the largest collections of artwork by Expressionist painter

August Macke August Robert Ludwig Macke (3 January 1887 – 26 September 1914) was a German Expressionist painter. He was one of the leading members of the German Expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider). He lived during a particularly activ ...

. His work is also on display in the August-Macke-Haus, located in Macke's former home where he lived from 1911 to 1914. The ''Bundeskunsthalle'' (full name: Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland or Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany), focuses on the crossroads of culture, arts, and science. To date, it attracted more than 17 million visitors. One of its main objectives is to show the

cultural heritage Cultural heritage is the heritage of tangible and intangible heritage assets of a group or society that is inherited from past generations. Not all heritages of past generations are "heritage"; rather, heritage is a product of selection by socie ...

outside of Germany or Europe. Next to its changing exhibitions, the Bundeskunsthalle regularly hosts concerts, discussion panels, congresses, and lectures. The ''

Museum Koenig The Museum Koenig Bonn, formerly Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig (German: ''Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig'', abbreviated ZFMK), is a natural history museum and zoological research institution in Bonn, Germany. The mus ...

'' is Bonn's natural history museum. Affiliated with the

, it is also a

zoological Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

research institution housing the ''Leibniz-Institut für Biodiversität der Tiere''. Politically interesting, it is on the premises of the Museum Koenig where the

Parlamentarischer Rat The ''Parlamentarischer Rat'' ( German for "Parliamentary Council") was the West German constituent assembly in Bonn that drafted and adopted the constitution of West Germany, the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, promulgated on 23 M ...

first met. The ''

Deutsches Museum Bonn The Deutsches Museum Bonn is a museum with exhibits and experiments of famous scientists, engineers and inventors. Its central themes are research and technology in Germany after 1945. It is part of the Deutsches Museum in Munich. It was founde ...

'', affiliated with one of the world's foremost science museums, the

Deutsches Museum The Deutsches Museum (''German Museum'', officially (English: ''German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology'')) in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of science museum, science and technology museum, technology, with a ...

in Munich, is an interactive science museum focusing on post-war German scientists, engineers, and inventions. Other museums include the

Beethoven House The Beethoven House (German: ''Beethoven-Haus'') in Bonn, Germany, is a memorial site, museum, and cultural institution serving various purposes. Founded in 1889 by the Beethoven-Haus association, it studies the life and work of composer Ludwig v ...

, birthplace of

, the

Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn The Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn, or LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn, is a museum in Bonn, Germany, run by the Rhineland Landscape Association. It is one of the oldest museums in the country. In 2003 it completed an extensive renovation. The museum has a ...

(Rhinish Regional Museum Bonn), the

Bonn Women's Museum The Bonn Women's Museum () is a women's museum in Bonn, Germany. It was founded in 1981 by Marianne Pitzen (the current director) and an interdisciplinary group of working women, and claims to be the first museum of its kind in the world.

, the Rheinisches Malermuseum and the

Arithmeum The Arithmeum is a mathematics museum owned by the Forschungsinstitut für Diskrete Mathematik (Research Institute for Discrete Mathematics) at the University of Bonn. It was founded in 2008 by the director of the institute, Bernhard Korte, who ...

Nature

Siebengebirge schloss drachenburg ds wv 09 2008

There are several parks, leisure and protected areas in and around Bonn. The ' is Bonn's most important leisure park, with its role being comparable to what

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

is for New York City. It lies on the banks of the Rhine and is the city's biggest park intra muros. The Rhine promenade and the ''Alter Zoll'' (Old Toll Station) are in direct neighbourhood of the city centre and are popular amongst both residents and visitors. The '' Arboretum Park Härle'' is an

arboretum An arboretum (: arboreta) is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees and shrubs of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, many modern arbor ...

with specimens dating to back to 1870. The '' Botanischer Garten'' (Botanical Garden) is affiliated with the university. The natural reserve of ''

Kottenforst The Kottenforst is a large forest, about 40 km2 in area, to the south, west and north of the city of Bonn in Germany. It is part of the Rhineland Nature Park (1,045 km2) and forms its eastern side. Geography The Kottenforst is the so ...

'' is a large area of protected woods on the hills west of the city centre. It is about in area and part of the Rhineland Nature Park (). In the very south of the city, on the border with

Wachtberg Wachtberg is a municipality in the Rhein-Sieg district, of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated approximately 15 km south of Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks o ...

and

, there is an extinct volcano, the Rodderberg, featuring a popular area for hikes. Also south of the city, there is the

which is part of the lower half of the

region. The nearby upper half of the

from Bingen to

Koblenz Koblenz ( , , ; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz'') is a German city on the banks of the Rhine (Middle Rhine) and the Moselle, a multinational tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman military p ...

is a

UNESCO World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

with more than 40 castles and fortresses from the

and important German vineyards.

Transportation

Air traffic

Named after

, the first post-war Chancellor of West Germany,

Cologne Bonn Airport Cologne Bonn Airport () is an international airport in north-western Germany. It serves the country's fourth-largest city Cologne, as well as Bonn, the former capital of West Germany. With approximately 12.4 million passengers passing through i ...

is situated north-east from the city centre of Bonn. With around 10.3 million passengers passing through it in 2015, it is the seventh-largest passenger airport in Germany and the third-largest in terms of cargo operations. By traffic units, which combines cargo and passengers, the airport is in fifth position in Germany. As of March 2015, Cologne Bonn Airport had services to 115 passenger destinations in 35 countries. The airport is one of Germany's few 24-hour airports, and is a hub for

Eurowings Eurowings GmbH is a Germany, German low-cost carrier headquartered in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group. Founded in 1996, it serves a network of domestic and European destinations and main ...

and cargo operators

FedEx Express FedEx Express is a major American cargo airline based in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. As of 2023, it is the world's List of largest airlines, largest cargo airline in terms of fleet size and freight tons flown. It is the namesake and leadi ...

and

UPS Airlines UPS Airlines is a major American cargo airline based in Louisville, Kentucky, US. One of the largest cargo airlines worldwide World's largest airlines#Scheduled freight tonne-kilometers (millions), in terms of freight volume flown, UPS Airlines f ...

. The federal motorway (''Autobahn'') A59 connects the airport with the city. Long distance and regional trains to and from the airport stop at Cologne/Bonn Airport station. Another major airport within a one-hour drive by car is Düsseldorf International Airport.

Rail and bus system

Bonn's central railway station,

is the city's main public transportation hub. It lies just outside the old town and near the central university buildings. It is served by regional (

S-Bahn The S-Bahn ( , ), , is a hybrid urban rail, urban–suburban rail system serving a metropolitan region predominantly in German language, German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit syst ...

and

Regionalbahn The ''Regionalbahn'' (; lit. Regional train; abbreviated ''RB'') is a train categories in Europe, type of Regional rail, local passenger train (stopping train) in Germany. It is similar to the Regionalzug (R) and Regio (Swiss railway train), R ...

) and long-distance ( IC and

ICE Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...

) trains. Daily, more than 67,000 people travel via Bonn Hauptbahnhof. In late 2016, around 80 long distance and more than 165 regional trains departed to or from Bonn every day. Another long-distance station, ( Siegburg/Bonn), is located in the nearby town of

Siegburg Siegburg (; i.e. ''fort on the Sieg (river), Sieg river''; Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Sieburch'') is a city in the district of Rhein-Sieg-Kreis in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the banks of the rivers Sieg (river), Sieg ...

and serves as Bonn's station on the high-speed rail line between Cologne and Frankfurt, offering faster connections to Southern Germany. It can be reached by Stadtbahn line 66 (approx. 25 minutes from central Bonn). Bonn has a

Stadtbahn (; German for 'city railway'; plural ) is a German word referring to various types of urban rail transport. One type of transport originated in the 19th century, firstly in Berlin and followed by Vienna, where rail routes were created that co ...

light rail and a tram system. The

Bonn Stadtbahn The Bonn Stadtbahn () is a ''Stadtbahn'' system in Bonn, Germany, Bonn and the surrounding Rhein-Sieg area, that also includes the Trams in Bonn, Bonn Straßenbahn. Although with six actual Stadtbahn lines (as well as three tram lines) the network ...

has 4 regular lines that connect the main north–south axis (centre to

) and quarters east of the Rhine (

Beuel Beuel ( Ripuarian: ''Büel'') is a city borough (''Stadtbezirk'') of Bonn, Germany. It has a population of 67,827 (2020). Subdivisions Beuel is composed of the sub-districts Beuel-Mitte, Beuel-Ost, Geislar, Hoholz, Holtorf, Holzlar, Küdinghoven ...

and Oberkassel), as well as many nearby towns like Brühl,

Wesseling Wesseling () is an industrial German city on the Rhine bordering Cologne city on the south. With three chemical plants and a petroleum refinery within its city limits, it has an important place in the international petrochemical industry. Histo ...

Sankt Augustin Sankt Augustin (; Ripuarian: ''Sank Aujustin'') is a town in the Rhein-Sieg district in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is named after the patron saint of the Steyler missionaries, Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430). The missionaries estab ...

Königswinter Königswinter (; ; Low Franconian: ) is a town and summer resort in the Rhein-Sieg district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Königswinter is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, opposite Bad Godesberg, at the foot of the ...

, and

Bad Honnef Bad Honnef () is a spa town in Germany near Bonn in the Rhein-Sieg district, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the border of the neighbouring state Rhineland-Palatinate. To the north it lies on the slopes of the Drachenfels (Siebengebirge), ...

. All lines serve the Central Station and two lines continue to Cologne, where they connect to the

Cologne Stadtbahn The Cologne Stadtbahn is a light rail system in the German city of Cologne, including several surrounding cities of the Cologne Bonn Region (Bergisch Gladbach, Bonn, Bornheim, Brühl, Frechen, Hürth, Leverkusen-Schlebusch, Wesseling). The te ...

. The Bonn tram system consists of two lines that connect closer quarters in the south, north and east of Bonn to the Central Station. While the Stadtbahn mostly has its own right-of-way, the tram often operates on general road lanes. A few sections of track are used by both systems. These urban rail lines are supplemented by a bus system of roughly 30 regular lines, especially since some parts of the city like

Hardtberg Hardtberg ( Ripuarian: ''Hardtbersch'') is a borough (''Stadtbezirk'') of Bonn, Germany. It has a population of 34,576 (2018). Twin towns – sister cities Hardtberg is twinned with: * Villemomble Villemomble () is a Communes of France, commu ...

and most of

completely lack a Stadtbahn/Tram connection. Several lines offer night services, especially during the weekends. Bonn is part of the

Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Sieg The Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Sieg (VRS), in English ''Rhine-Sieg Transport Association'', is the public transport association covering the area of the Cologne/Bonn Region, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Besides ''Aachener Verkehrsverbund'' (''AVV' ...

(''Rhine-Sieg Transport Association'') which is the public transport association covering the area of the Cologne/Bonn Region.

Road network

Four

Autobahn The (; German , ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. Much of t ...

s run through or are adjacent to Bonn: the A59 (right bank of the Rhine, connecting Bonn with

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

and

Duisburg Duisburg (; , ) is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine (Lower Rhine) and the Ruhr (river), Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruh ...

), the A555 (left bank of the

, connecting Bonn with Cologne), the

A562 The A562 is a road in England which runs from Liverpool to Warrington. Route Parliament Street At Liverpool, the road is known at first as Parliament Street. Upper Parliament Street to Speke Boulevard It then becomes Upper Parliament Street ...

(connecting the right with the left bank of the Rhine south of Bonn), and the A565 (connecting the A59 and the A555 with the A61 to the southwest). Three Bundesstraßen, which have a general

speed limit Speed limits on road traffic, as used in most countries, set the legal maximum speed at which vehicles may travel on a given stretch of road. Speed limits are generally indicated on a traffic sign reflecting the maximum permitted speed, express ...

in contrast to the Autobahn, connect Bonn to its immediate surroundings (Bundesstraßen B9, B42 and B56). With Bonn being divided into two parts by the

, three bridges are crucial for inner-city road traffic: the Konrad-Adenauer-Brücke (A562) in the South, the Friedrich-Ebert-Brücke (A565) in the North, and the Kennedybrücke (B56) in the centre. In addition, regular ferries operate between Bonn-Mehlem and

, Bonn-

and Königswinter- Niederdollendorf, and Bonn-Graurheindorf and

Niederkassel Niederkassel (; Ripuarian: ''Neddekaaßel'') is a town in the Rhein-Sieg district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with a population of around 37,000 people. It is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, approx. north-east of Bonn and sou ...

-Mondorf.

Port

Located in the northern sub-district of Graurheindorf, the inland harbour of Bonn is used for container traffic as well as oversea transport. The annual turnover amounts to around . Regular passenger transport occurs to Cologne and Düsseldorf.

Economy

The head offices of

, its subsidiary Telekom Deutschland,

German Academic Exchange Service The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD; ), founded in 1925, is a joint organization of German universities and student bodies to foster their international relations. Since 1 January 2020, the president has been Joybrato Mukherjee. Organisa ...

, and

SolarWorld SolarWorld is a German company dedicated to the manufacture and marketing of photovoltaic products worldwide by integrating all components of the solar value chain, from feedstock (polysilicon) to module production, from trade with solar panels ...

are in Bonn. The third largest employer in the city of Bonn is the

(including the university clinics) and Stadtwerke Bonn also follows as a major employer. On the other hand, there are several traditional, nationally known private companies in Bonn such as luxury food producers

Verpoorten Verpoorten GmbH & Co. KG is a producer of advocaat (egg liqueur). Eugen Verpoorten founded the company in 1876 in Heinsberg, Germany. The distiller from Antwerp opened the "Liquor Factory & Colonial Goods of H. Verpoorten" on Heinsberg's High ...

and Kessko, the Klais organ manufacture and the Bonn flag factory. The largest confectionery manufacturer in Europe,

Haribo Haribo GmbH & Co. KG, doing business as Haribo ( , , ; stylized in all caps), is a German confectionery company founded by Hans Riegel Sr. It began in Kessenich (Bonn), Kessenich, Bonn, Germany. The name "Haribo" is a syllabic abbreviation forme ...

, has its founding headquarters (founded in 1920) and a production site in Bonn. Since April 2018, the head office of the company is located in the Rhineland-Palatinate municipality of

Grafschaft A was originally the name given to the administrative area in the Holy Roman Empire over which a count, or , presided as judge. It is often, therefore, translated as 'county'. The term has survived as a placename in German-speaking countries, for ...

. Other companies of supraregional importance are Weck Glaswerke (production site),

Fairtrade A fair trade certification is a product certification within the market-based movement of fair trade. The most widely used fair trade certification is FLO International's, the International Fairtrade Certification Mark, used in Europe, Africa ...

, Eaton Industries (formerly Klöckner & Moeller), IVG Immobilien, Kautex Textron,

, Vapiano and the SER Group.

Education

The Rheinische Friedrich Wilhelms Universität Bonn (

) is one of the largest universities in Germany. It is also the location of the German research institute

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft The German Research Foundation ( ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2019, the DFG had a funding bu ...

(DFG) offices and of the

(''Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst'' – DAAD).

Private schools

Aloisiuskolleg The Aloisiuskolleg is a co-educational, Jesuit (Catholic church, Catholic), University-preparatory school in Bonn-Bad Godesberg, Germany, which includes boarding school, boarders. It is named for Saint Aloysius Gonzaga. Highly ranked academically ...

, a

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

private school in Bad Godesberg with boarding facilities * Amos-Comenius-Gymnasium, a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

private school in Bad Godesberg * Bonn International School (BIS), a private English-speaking school set in the former American Compound in the Rheinaue, which offers places from kindergarten to 12th grade. It follows the curriculum of the

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), more commonly known as the International Baccalaureate (IB), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the I ...

. * Libysch Schule, private Arabic high school * Independent Bonn International School, (IBIS) private primary school (serving from kindergarten, reception, and years 1 to 6) * École de Gaulle - Adenauer, private French-speaking school serving grades pre-school ("maternelle") to grade 4 (CM1) *

Kardinal-Frings-Gymnasium The Kardinal-Frings-Gymnasium (''KFG,'' until 1979 ''Erzbischöfliches Gymnasium Beuel'') is a private catholic secondary school of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cologne in Beuel, a borough of the former Germany, German capital Bonn in North Rh ...

(''KFG''), private catholic school of the

Archdiocese of Cologne The Archdiocese of Cologne (; ) is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in western North Rhine-Westphalia and northern Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. History At an early date Christianity came to Cologne with the Roman soldiers ...

* Liebfrauenschule (''LFS''), private catholic school of the Archdiocese of Cologne * , private catholic school of the Archdiocese of Cologne in Beuel * , private Catholic school of the

in Bad Godesberg * , private boarding and day school in Oberkassel * ("PÄDA"), private day school in Bad Godesberg * ("CoJoBo"), private catholic day school * Akademie für Internationale Bildung, private higher educational facility offering programs for international students ; Former schools * King Fahd Academy, private Islamic school in Bad Godesberg

Demographics

, Bonn had a population of 327,913. About 70% of the population was entirely of German origin, while about 100,000 people, equating to roughly 30%, were at least partly of non-German origin. The city is one of the fastest-growing municipalities in Germany and the 18th most populous city in the country. Bonn's population is predicted to surpass the populations of

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, with a population of 355,000. Wuppertal is the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and List of cities in Germany by population, 17th-largest in Germany. It ...

and

Bochum Bochum (, ; ; ; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 372,348 (April 2023), it is the sixth-largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) in North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous German federa ...

before the year 2030. The following list shows the largest groups of origin of minorities with "

migration background In the Germanosphere, ''migration background'' () is a term used to describe people on the basis of Identity politics, identity and ancestry. Migration background is a variably defined Social structure, socio-demographic characteristic that desc ...

" in Bonn . Bonn DTAG2

Sports

Bonn is home of the

Telekom Baskets Bonn Telekom Baskets Bonn is a German professional basketball club that is based in Bonn, Germany. The club plays in the Basketball Bundesliga, which is German basketball league system, the highest level pro basketball league in Germany. The club's s ...

, the only basketball club in Germany that owns its arena, the Telekom Dome. The club is the reigning champion of the

2022–23 Basketball Champions League The 2022–23 Basketball Champions League was the 7th season of the Basketball Champions League (BCL), the premier European Professional sports, professional basketball competition for Sports club, clubs launched by FIBA. The season began on 3 ...

. The city also has a semi-professional football team

Bonner SC Bonner SC is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Bonn. The club was formed in 1965 through the merger of ''Bonner FV'' and ''Tura Bonn''. Its women's football department won the List of German women's football champio ...

which was formed in 1965 through the merger of ''Bonner FV'' and ''Tura Bonn''. The Bonn Gamecocks American football team play at the 12,000-capacity Stadion Pennenfeld. The successful German Baseball team Bonn Capitals are also found in the city of Bonn. The headquarters of the

International Paralympic Committee The International Paralympic Committee (IPC; ) is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and functions as the international federation for nin ...

has been located in Bonn since 1999.

International relations

Since 1983, the City of Bonn has established friendship relations with the City of

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

, Israel, and since 1988 Bonn, in former times the residence of the Princes Electors of Cologne, and

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

, Germany, the formerly most important residential city of the Prussian rulers, have established a city-to-city partnership. Central Bonn is surrounded by a number of traditional towns and villages which were independent up to several decades ago. As many of those communities had already established their own contacts and partnerships before the regional and local reorganisation in 1969, the Federal City of Bonn now has a dense network of city district partnerships with European partner towns. The city district of Bonn is a partner of the English university city of

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, England, UK (since 1947), of

Budafok Budafok (; literally "Promontory near Buda, or Buda Point") is a neighbourhood in Budapest, Hungary. It is situated in the southwestern part of Buda, near the Danube, and belongs to District XXII. Budafok was an independent municipality before ...

, District XXII of

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

(since 1991) and of

Opole Opole (; ; ; ) is a city located in southern Poland on the Oder River and the historical capital of Upper Silesia. With a population of approximately 127,387 as of the 2021 census, it is the capital of Opole Voivodeship (province) and the seat of ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

(officially since 1997; contacts were established 1954). The district of Bad Godesberg has established partnerships with

Saint-Cloud Saint-Cloud () is a French commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, from the centre of Paris. Like other communes of Hauts-de-Seine such as Marnes-la-Coquette, Neuilly-sur-Seine and Vaucresson, Saint-Cloud is one of France's wealthie ...

in France,

Frascati Frascati () is a city and in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital in the Lazio region of central Italy. It is located south-east of Rome, on the Alban Hills close to the ancient city of Tusculum. Frascati is closely associated with science, ...

in Italy,

Windsor and Maidenhead The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead is a unitary authority area with royal borough status in Berkshire, England. The borough is named after its two largest towns of Maidenhead (where the council is based) and Windsor. The borough also ...

in England, UK and

Kortrijk Kortrijk ( , ; or ''Kortrik''; ), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region, Flemish Provinces of Belgium, province of We ...

in Belgium; a friendship agreement has been signed with the town of

Yalova Yalova is a market-gardening town located in northwestern Turkey on the eastern coast of the Sea of Marmara. It is the seat of Yalova Province and Yalova District.Mirecourt Mirecourt () is a Communes of France, commune in the Vosges (French department), Vosges Departments of France, department in Grand Est in northeastern France. Mirecourt is known for lace-making and the manufacture of musical instruments, particula ...

and

Villemomble Villemomble () is a Communes of France, commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris. Heraldry Transport Villemomble is served by Le Raincy – Villemomble – Montfermeil (Par ...

. Moreover, the city of Bonn has developed a concept of international co-operation and maintains sustainability oriented project partnerships in addition to traditional city twinning, among others with

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

in Belarus,

Ulaanbaatar Ulaanbaatar is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities in Mongolia, most populous city of Mongolia. It has a population of 1.6 million, and it is the coldest capital city in the world by average yearly temperature. The municipa ...

in Mongolia,

Bukhara Bukhara ( ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan by population, with 280,187 residents . It is the capital of Bukhara Region. People have inhabited the region around Bukhara for at least five millennia, and t ...

in Uzbekistan,

Chengdu Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...

in China and

La Paz La Paz, officially Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Aymara language, Aymara: Chuqi Yapu ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With 755,732 residents as of 2024, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities by populati ...

in Bolivia.

Twin towns – sister cities

Bonn is twinned with: *

, Uzbekistan (1999) *

Cape Coast Cape Coast is a city and the capital of the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly, Cape Coast Metropolitan District and the Central Region (Ghana), Central Region of Ghana, Ghana. It is located about from Sekondi-Takoradi and approximately from Ac ...

, Ghana (2012) *

, China (2009) *

Kherson Kherson (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian and , , ) is a port city in southern Ukraine that serves as the administrative centre of Kherson Oblast. Located by the Black Sea and on the Dnieper, Dnieper River, Kherson is the home to a major ship-bui ...

, Ukraine (2023) *

, Belarus (1993) *

, Bolivia (1996) *

, Germany (1988) *

, Israel (1983) *

, Mongolia (1993) Bonn city district is twinned with: *

, United Kingdom (1947) * Budafok-Tétény (Budapest), Hungary (1991) For twin towns of other city districts, see

and

Notable people

Pre–20th century

Johann Peter Salomon Johann Peter Salomon (20 February 1745 aptized– 25 November 1815) was a German violinist, composer, conducting, conductor and musical impresario. Although an accomplished violinist, he is best known for bringing Joseph Haydn to London a ...

(1745–1815), musician * Franz Anton Ries (1755–1846), violinist and violin teacher *

(1770–1827), composer * Salomon Oppenheim, Jr. (1772–1828), banker *

Peter Joseph Lenné Peter Joseph Lenné (the Younger) (29 September 1789 – 23 January 1866) was a Prussian gardener and landscape architect. As director general of the Royal Prussian palaces and parks in Potsdam and Berlin, his work shaped the development of 1 ...

(1789–1866), gardener and landscape architect * Friedrich von Gerolt (1797–1879), diplomat *

Karl Joseph Simrock Karl Joseph Simrock (28 August 1802 – 18 July 1876) was a German poet and writer. He is primarily known for his translation of ''Das Nibelungenlied'' into modern German. Life He was born in Bonn, where his father was a music publisher. He s ...

(1802–1876), writer and specialist in German * Wilhelm Neuland (1806–1889), composer and conductor * Johanna Kinkel (1810–1858), composer and writer *

Moses Hess Moses (Moritz) Hess (21 January 1812 – 6 April 1875) was a German-Jewish philosopher, early socialist and Zionist thinker. His theories led to disagreements with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. He is considered a pioneer of Labor Zionism. Bi ...

(1812–1875), philosopher and writer * Johann Gottfried Kinkel (1815–1882), theologian, writer, and politician * Alexander Kaufmann (1817–1893), author and archivist * Leopold Kaufmann (1821–1898), mayor *

Julius von Haast Sir Johann Franz Julius von Haast (1 May 1822 – 16 August 1887) was a German-born New Zealand explorer, geologist, and founder of the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch. Early life Johann Franz Julius Haast was born on 1 May 1822 in Bo ...

(1822–1887), New Zealand explorer and professor of geology *

Dietrich Brandis Sir Dietrich Brandis (31 March 1824 – 28 May 1907) was a German-British botanist and forestry academic and administrator, who worked with the British Imperial Forestry Service in colonial India for nearly 30 years. He joined the British civi ...

(1824–1907), botanist *

Balduin Möllhausen Heinrich Balduin Möllhausen (27 January 1825—28 May 1905) was a German writer, traveler and artist who visited the United States and participated in three separate expeditions exploring the American frontier. After his travel he became a popular ...

(1825–1905), traveler and writer * Maurus Wolter (1825–1890), Benedictine, founder and first abbot of the Abbey of Beuron and Beuronese Congregation * August Reifferscheid (1835–1887), philologist * Antonius Maria Bodewig (1839–1915), Jesuit missionary and founder *

Nathan Zuntz Nathan Zuntz (6 October 1847, in Bonn – 22 March 1920, in Berlin) was a German physiologist born in Bonn. He was a pioneer of modern altitude physiology and aviation medicine. Academic career He studied medicine at the University of Bonn, wh ...

(1847–1920), physician *

Alexander Koenig Alexander Ferdinand Koenig (20 February 1858 – 16 July 1940) was a German natural history, naturalist and zoologist. Making use of the family wealth earned from the sugar business, he went on collection expeditions and founded what is now k ...

(1858–1940), zoologist, founder of

in Bonn *

Alfred Philippson Alfred Philippson (1 January 1864 – 28 March 1953) was a German geologist and geographer. He was born at Bonn, son of Ludwig Philippson. He received his education at the gymnasium and university of his native town and at the University of Lei ...

(1864–1953), geographer *

Johanna Elberskirchen Johanna Elberskirchen (11 April 1864 in Bonn – 17 May 1943 in Rüdersdorf) was a feminist writer and activist for the rights of women, gays and lesbians as well as blue-collar workers. She published books on women's sexuality and health among ...

(1864–1943), writer and activist * Max Alsberg (1877–1933), lawyer * Kurt Wolff (1887–1963), publisher * Hans Riegel Sr. (1893–1945), entrepreneur, founder of

Eduard Krebsbach Eduard Krebsbach (8 August 1894 – 28 May 1947) was a former German physician and SS doctor in the Nazi concentration camp in Mauthausen from July 1941 to August 1943. He was executed for atrocities committed at the Mauthausen camp. Early li ...

(1894–1947), SS doctor in

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

Mauthausen concentration camp Mauthausen was a German Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen, Upper Austria, Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with List of subcamps of Mauthausen, nearly 100 f ...

, executed for war crimes * Paul Kemp (1896–1953), actor

1900–1949

Hermann Josef Abs Hermann Josef Abs (15 October 1901, Bonn – 5 February 1994, Bad Soden) was a leading Nazi banker and advisor to Chancellor Adenauer. He was a member of the board of directors of Deutsche Bank from 1938 to 1945, as well as of 44 other companies ...

(1901–1994), board member of the

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (, ) is a Germany, German multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. ...

* Paul Ludwig Landsberg (1901–1944), in

Sachsenhausen concentration camp Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners t ...

, philosopher *

Heinrich Lützeler Heinrich Lützeler (27 January 1902 in Bonn – 13 June 1988 in Bonn) was a German philosopher, art historian, and literary scholar. He presided over a number of institutes and was dean at the department of philosophy at the University of Bonn. B ...

(1902–1988), philosopher, art historian, and literary scholar * Frederick Stephani (1903–1962), film director and screenwriter *

Helmut Horten Helmut Horten (8 January 1909 – 30 November 1987) was a German entrepreneur who built up and owned the fourth-largest chain of department stores in Germany, Horten AG. The business practices of Mr. Horten flourished during the Nazi era, when ...

(1909–1987), entrepreneur * Theodor Schieffer (1910–1992), historian and medievalist * Irene Sänger-Bredt (1911–1983), mathematician and physicist *

E. F. Schumacher Ernst Friedrich Schumacher (16 August 1911 – 4 September 1977) was a German-born British statistician and economist who is best known for his proposals for human-scale, decentralised and appropriate technologies.Biography on the inner dust ...

(1911–1977), economist * Karl-Theodor Molinari (1915–1993), General and founding chairman of the German Armed Forces Association * Karlrobert Kreiten (1916–1943), pianist *

Hans Walter Zech-Nenntwich Hans Walter Zech‐Nenntwich (10 July 1916 – after 1964) was a member of the SS who defected to the United Kingdom after being imprisoned in 1943. After World War II he was convicted of war crimes and temporarily fled Germany before retur ...

(born 1916), Second Polish Republic, SS Cavalry member and war criminal *

Walther Killy Walther Killy (26 August 191728 December 1995) was a German literary scholar who specialised in poetry, especially that of Friedrich Hölderlin and Georg Trakl. He taught at the Free University of Berlin, the Georg-August-Universität Götting ...

(1917–1985), German literary scholar, ''Der Killy'' * Hannjo Hasse (1921–1983), actor * Walter Gotell (1924–1997), actor * Walter Eschweiler (born 1935), football referee * Alexandra Cordes (1935–1986), writer * Joachim Bißmeier (born 1936), actor * Roswitha Esser (born 1941), canoeist, gold medal winner at the Olympic Games in 1964 and 1968, Sportswoman of the Year 1964 * Heide Simonis (1943–2023), politician (SPD), former Prime Minister of Schleswig-Holstein, since 2005 honorary chairman of UNICEF Germany * Paul Alger (born 1943), football player * Johannes Mötsch (born 1949), archivist and historian * Klaus Ludwig (born 1949), race car driver * Albert Kunetz (born 1951), classical pianist

1950–1999

* Günter Ollenschläger (born 1951), medical and science journalist * Hans Bongartz, Hans "Hannes" Bongartz (born 1951), football player and coach * Christa Goetsch (born 1952), politician (Alliance '90 / The Greens) * Michael Meert (born 1953), film author and director * Thomas de Maizière (born 1954), politician (CDU), former Minister of Defense and of the Interior * Gerd Faltings (born 1954), mathematician, Fields Medal winner * Olaf Manthey (born 1955), former touring car racing driver * Michael Kühnen (1955–1991), Neo-Nazi * Roger Willemsen (1955–2016), publicist, author, essayist, and presenter * Norman Rentrop (born 1957), publisher, author, and investor * Markus Maria Profitlich (born 1960), comedian and actor * Guido Westerwelle (1961–2016), politician (FDP), Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor of Germany from 2009 to 2011 * Mathias Dopfner (born 1963), chief executive officer of Axel Springer AG * Nikolaus Blome (born 1963), journalist * Maxim Kontsevich (born 1964), mathematician, Fields Medal winner * Johannes B. Kerner (born 1964), TV presenter, Abitur at the

, and studied in Bonn * Anthony Baffoe (born 1965), football player, sports presenter, and actor * Sonja Zietlow (born 1968), TV presenter * Burkhard Garweg (born 1968), member of the Red Army Faction * Sabriye Tenberken (born 1970), Tibetologist, founder of Braille Without Borders * Thorsten Libotte (born 1972), writer * Tamara Gräfin von Nayhauß (born 1972), television presenter * Silke Bodenbender (born 1974), actress * Juli Zeh (born 1974), writer * Oliver Mintzlaff (born 1975), track and field athlete and sports manager, CEO of RB Leipzig * Markus Dieckmann (born 1976), beach volleyball player * Bernadette Heerwagen (born 1977), actress * Melanie Amann (born 1978), journalist * Bushido (rapper), Bushido (born 1978), musician and rapper * Sonja Fuss (born 1978), football player * DJ Manian (born 1978), DJ of Cascada and owner of Zooland Records * Andreas Tölzer (born 1980), judoka * Jens Hartwig (born 1980), actor * Natalie Horler (born 1981), front woman of the Dance Project Cascada * Marcel Ndjeng (born 1982), football player * Marc Zwiebler (born 1984), badminton player * Benjamin Barg (born 1984), football player * Alexandros Margaritis (born 1984), race car driver * Ken Miyao (born 1986), pop singer * Felix Reda (born 1986), politician * Peter Scholze (born 1987), mathematician, Fields Medal winner * Célia Šašić (born 1988), football player * Luke Mockridge (born 1989), comedian and author * Pius Heinz (born 1989), poker player, 2011 World Series of Poker, WSOP Main Event champion * Jonas Wohlfarth-Bottermann (born 1990), basketball player * Levina (singer), Levina (born 1991), singer * Bienvenue Basala-Mazana (born 1992), football player * Kim Petras (born 1992), pop singer and songwriter * Annika Beck (born 1994), tennis player * James Hyndman (actor), James Hyndman (born 1962), stage actor * Konstanze Klosterhalfen (born 1997), track and field athlete

21st century

* Anny Ogrezeanu (born 2001), singer and ''The Voice of Germany'' winner 2022

Note

References

Bibliography

External links

Official website
(archived)
Tourist information

(archived)

{{Authority control Bonn, Former national capitals Populated places on the Rhine Roman towns and cities in Germany 10s BC establishments in the Roman Empire Roman legionary fortresses in Germany Roman fortifications in Germania Inferior Urban districts of North Rhine-Westphalia Cologne (region) Cities in North Rhine-Westphalia