Shake Your Bonn Bonn

The next morning, Matt and I split ways. He went on to Romania (Bucharest to be more specific) and I carried on to Bonn, a 20 minute train ride south of Colgone. Although I left plenty earlier (10am), I didn’t arrive in Bonn until 12:30pm thanks to a horrible experience where I took the wrong train and nearly ended up in Koblenz. But, once I was in Bonn, I found it was worth the trouble.
Bonn is a small city but its major significance is that it was the capital of Western Germany during the Cold War. It was also the birthplace of Beethoven, the composer. That alone was enough to sell me on the city, but it’s much more than a historical relic. It’s just a very beautiful city.
Bonn is divided into two areas: the older, prettier center of town and the newer area near the river dominated by old West German government buildings. I started here and decided to work my way back up to the center of town. The woman at the tourist office had sent me via the boardwalk so I had a lovely walk through the city square and then along the Rhine river.


The buildings that make up the government area are not pretty. They’re squat 1960s-style industrial buildings with brown roofs and dull metal paneling. The best example of this is the old Bundesrat, the building where West German politicians met. It was torn down and a new Bundestag was built. It was this new Bundestag that I wanted to see. It was one of two things I insisted on seeing while in Bonn (the other was a visit to Beethoven’s house), and I had already decided I was going to take a tour. My plan encountered a slight hiccup when I went in at 2pm, looking for a tour and found they were only available in German…Well, I’d walked all the way down here and it was on my list, so I was going to do it. And I did. I spent an hour listening to a German man explaining the architectural and historical significance of the building without understanding a single word. Fortunately, there was a young woman who spoke phenomenal English and somehow divined that I didn’t speak German (maybe it was my blank stare?). So she translated for me. So most of my information comes from her.

Construction on the Bundestag began in 1988, under the guidance of architect Günter Behnisch. Given that it was built in the thick of the Cold War, democracy was an important principle in Germany. Therefore, democracy and transparency in government is a consistent theme throughout the building. In fact, it was (at the time) the world’s only transparent parliament, as the building is made mostly of glass.


The lobby is a wide open space with only two doors: one to the outside (which is made of glass) and the other to the parliamentary chamber (also made of glass). As a result of all the glass, it’s very bright and there is green foliage all around given the feeling that nature is coming inside. This is to symbolize that democracy is a natural phenomenon. A (coloured glass) partition separates the press from the politicians, but no doors, symbolizing that West Germany’s politicians should always be, at least accessible, to the press. The lines on the floor lead to doors, and depending on which one a politician stands at, indicate whether he is ready to speak with the press.


Another theme of the building is the concept that democracy and government is a task that is unfinished. As a result, the painting on the poles framing the (glass) elevator is painted yellow except for the very top where the architect purposely stopped in order to reinforce this theme.

The theme of transparency is carried inside the chambers as well. The walls of glass and the ceilings are exposed and with out covering, so you can see the lights and ceiling tiles.

This parliament was never used by West Germans as reunification happened before construction finished. It was used from 1992 to 1999 as the seat of German government, but after that government operations moved to Berlin. Today Bonn still holds some ministries and secondary residences of the Chancellor. The building is currently being used as a conference centre. Also in the neighborhood is a UN building. I find it interesting that it happened to be located in the heart of West German government…

As I was walking back to town I somehow ended up on the Path of Democracy. Some of the sights were pretty cool (the Chancellor’s residence, the first place the West German Parliament convened was in a converted waterworks building), but some were lame (the old Foreign Affairs ministry, a science museum). Here are the pictorial highlights. Read along with the website.


That sexy beast is one-time West German Chancellor Kondrad Adenauer.


Then I walked through the center. Like most capitals, Bonn seemed like it was cleaned up for tourists. The banana colored university building seemed to sparkle in the sunlight and the pink paint of City Hall was gleaming.

Then there was the Opera house that you could tell was built during the Cold War.

My last stop was Beethoven’s house, now a museum dedicated to his life. It was a really great museum and I wish I’d had the time to really go through it. There was some really good stuff: the ear trumpets Beethoven used to hear with when he was going deaf, two of his pianos, a violin given to him as a first gift and his first instrument, pages of his work, portraits, and a death mask (true story). What’s interesting about this site is that Beethoven actually hated living in Bonn. He lived there for the first 18 or 20 years of his life before he moved out and then spent the rest of his time in Vienna. But if I were Bonn, and was no longer the seat of German politics I’d stick with Beethoven too. Here are some pictures of the museum and the huge statue they have of the man in Beethoven Square.