Passport
to Germany
1967
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The
Rheinland
It
takes "peeling back the onion," to show you where I lived....
Bonn
is in the State of Nordrhein-Westfalen
(Northern Rhein-Westfalia).
Coming from the
north, the Romantic part of the Rheinland starts near Bonn.
The Rhein River, itself, flows north from the Swiss Alps, through Germany
and out to the North Sea via Holland.
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My old stomping grounds are just below the red asterisk on the 1st map above
and are shown in the lower left corner of the map on the far right above.
I have cut that area to create the map below.
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Bonn
is an old city on the west bank of the Rhein River, just south of Koeln (Cologne)
It overlooks the Siebengebirge (Seven Mountains),
which are on the east bank of the Rhein.
The Siebengebirge area is one of the oldest nature preserves in Germany.
The 2000 year old city of Bonn on the Rhine
has a cosy Old Town with a pedestrian district.
The jewel of the city is the Münster,
one of the most beautiful Romanesque churches
along the Rhine (11th - 13th century),
with the only well preserved cloister of that time north of the Alps.
In the marketplace, the Old Town Hall is in rococo style. (Further below)
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A
Brief History of Bonn
Bonn
was founded in the 1st century A.D. as the Roman garrison of Castra
Bonnensia.
It was devastated by the Normans in the 9th cent. and later became the
residence (1238–1794) of the Electors of Cologne and the scene
of the
Coronations of Frederick the Handsome (1314) and Charles IV
(1346) as kings of the Romans.
During the Palatinate Succession War (1689), Bonn was destroyed
by Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg. It was rebuilt, largely
in the baroque style.
Bonn was occupied (1794) and later annexed (1798–1814) by France.
In 1815, it passed to Prussia. In 1948–49, delegates from the parts
of Germany
occupied by France, Great Britain, and the United States
met in Bonn and drafted a Constitution for the Federal Republic
of Germany.
In 1949, Bonn was made West Germany's Capital.
More History
of Bonn
Click here
More photos
and tourist information about Bonn...
Click here
Four
miles south of Bonn, you come into Bad Godesberg,
the entrance to my old stomping grounds,
across from the Siebengebirge... more about that area shortly.
The
Siebengebirge (Seven Mountains)
The
mountain tops of the Siebengebirge are punctuated by the ruins of the
"Drachenfels"
where, legend says,
Siegfried slew the Dragon.
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View from the Drachenfels,
overlooking Bonn, all the way to Koeln,
which is 18 miles
north of Bonn.
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Click
images to enlarge
.
It is said that the hills pour out the Dragon's Blood to this day...
in the form of the local red wines.
The story of Little Red Riding Hood and other
Grimm's fairy tales
and, of course, parts of Wagner's Ring Cycle operas
were also set in the Siebengebirge.
For
more about the The Siebengebirge
Click here
Speaking
of music...
Beethoven
was born in Bonn in 1770
and attracts many visitors to the
Beethoven Haus.
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Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
1820 by Joseph Karl Stieler (left)
Ode to Joy (right)
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Page Kelly and I returned to Bonn together in 1996.
Here we are in front of the Beethoven Haus.
The City of Bonn is also known for its pink City Hall!
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Bonn Rathaus (City Hall)
It really is Pink!
The
city was designated the Provisional Capital of West Germany
by Adenauer, after WWII. A sleepy little city on the Rhein
subsequently grew to become the large and dynamic city it is today.
After the collapse of the USSR and Re-Unification of eastern
Germany
with the rest of Germany,
the capitol was moved to Berlin.
In the former government's place are now a
number of
international organizations which have come to fill the grand
builidings in Bonn.
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For the feeling of actually being in Bonn,
click on the street scene above right!
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Christmas in Bonn
The
area around Bonn is also known for the
EXPRESSIONIST
art movement,
as exemplified by August Macke and the Rhenish Expressionists.
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To
learn a bit about the Expressionist movement...
Click
here
Wine Festival - Rhein in Flames...
Click here