Mug Shot — «Bonn - Old Town Hall»

City: Bonn Country: Germany Edition: 2008 Icon Edition Belongs to: 574 users (49 trading, 99 seeking)

Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999. Starting in 1998, many national government institutions were moved from Bonn to Berlin. Both houses of the German national parliament, the Bundestag and the Bundesrat, were moved along with the Chancellery and the residence of the President of Germany. Bonn remains a centre of politics and administration, however. Roughly half of all government jobs were retained as many government departments remained in Bonn and numerous sub-ministerial level government agencies relocated to the former capital from Berlin and other parts of Germany. In recognition of this, the former capital now holds the title of Federal City ("Bundesstadt"). Bonn has developed into a hub of international cooperation in particular in the area of environment and sustainable development. In addition to a number of other international organizations and institutions the City currently hosts 17 United Nations institutions. The number of UN agencies in Bonn, most of which are based at the newly established United Nations Campus in the city's former parliamentary quarter on the banks of the Rhine, continues to grow. Bonn is the seat of some of Germany's largest corporate players, chiefly in the areas of telecommunications and logistics. Simultaneously, Bonn is establishing itself as an important national and international centre of meetings, conventions and conferences, many of which are directly related to the work of the United Nations. A new conference centre capable of hosting thousands of participants is currently under construction in the immediate vicinity of the UN Campus. From 1597 to 1794, it was the residence of the Archbishops and Prince-electors of Cologne, and is the birthplace of Ludwig van Beethoven (born 1770).

Old Town Hall - brilliantly dominates the three-cornered market place. In 1737, Elector Clemens August laid the foundation stone for this impressive building at the place of an older Gothic building, whose architect was Michel Leveilly, who also constructed the magnificent “Koblenzer Tor”. The town hall’s flight of outdoor stairs with its golden grating had been the scene of historical events for several times already: Gottfried Kinkel wove the black-red-golden flag here in 1848, and Theodor Heuss, the first Federal President, stepped in front of Bonn’s citizens the night he was elected on September 12, 1949.
Today, the Lord Mayoress escorts VIPs into the town hall over the stairs with the golden grating, as her predecessors did in the past. In 1962, Charles de Gaulle, the French President of the State, delivered an address here, and US President John F. Kennedy did so in 1963. The list would become quite long, if all emperors, kings and presidents, as well as all world stars from the sectors of music and sports were to mention here who visited Bonn. For more than 700 years the town hall from the Rococo era and its predecessor building has been the seat of the citizens’ self-government. Since 1971, it has also been the scenery for the open-air cultural programme called “Bonner Sommer”.

photo by lucky
edited by mobydick74

  Germany, Bonn

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