Brühl is the home of the Augustusburg and Falkenburg Castles and their associated garden-parks. For its unique and intact early-example of Rococo architecture from the 18th-century, these castles were inscribed by UNESCO as World Heritage Site in 1984. A regional-express train from Bonn Hauptbahnhof (central station) to Brühl Bahnhof (train station) is only 10 minutes, and upon leaving the latter station, Augustusburg’s sunlit golden yellows lies straight ahead on the walking path.
Schloss Augustusburg.
My father would have loved this French garden.
(1) 8000 km to the other side of the world, and Canadian geese are everywhere. (2) The geese seemed to disagree over who has the most rights to this pool of water.
One last reflection from Schlosspark Augustusburg, for personal reflection. “Not bad” for a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
BRD buildings in the Bundesviertel
As a product of the 1970s and 1980s, I knew of two Germanys and, thanks to the 1976 Olympics, I then learned their abbreviations in both English and German. West Germany was known as FRG / BRD, and East Germany GDR / DDR. Looking back now, this became a starting point towards a long journey over the Atlantic, as I learned too that Bonn was capital of West Germany.
From 1949 to 1990, Bonn was capital city of the BRD: Bundesrepublik (West) Deutschland; FRG: Federal Republic of (West) Germany.
Former parliament building between 1992 and 1999. With German reunification and (re)declaration with Berlin as capital, many federal departments move from Bonn to Berlin. The final session of the German Bundestag in Bonn takes place in this building on 1 July 1999; all subsequent sessions take place in Berlin.
“Deutscher Bundestag” (German Parliament). Today, this building is part of the ensemble for the World Conference Centre Bonn.
1933 former Pedagogic Academy building built in Bauhaus style, converted in 1949 to meeting space for the Parliamentary Council, German Bundestag, German Bundesrat. This is the south part of the former parliament building.
The German Bundesrat meets in this north part of the parliament building. Plenary sessions take place here from 1949 to 2000, after which the Bundesrat moves to Berlin.
Deutsche Welle (now: DW), in Bonn. From 1994 to 2001, I watched Deutsche Welle from my apartment in Toronto’s North York. In late-2001, I moved sight-unseen to Heidelberg, Germany.
Two important flags.
I made all photos above with an iPhone15 on 30 Jul 2024. This post composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.
Bonn is a city of Beethoven; Ludwig the composer was born and raised in Bonn, before moving to and making it big in Vienna. A number of places in Bonn honour the memory of Beethoven. It’s also easy to forget Bonn was once the capital city of West Germany for over 40 years. Post-war rivalry and tension had escalated with the division of both Berlin and the nation into “west” and “east” entities. Bonn became the new capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990, until the Fall of the Wall and subsequent reunification. It’s never been a full move to this point in time; a number of federal departments still remain in Bonn.
I’ve visited the city before, but not with real depth on my part. To begin “again”, here’s how I saw sunny Bonn on travel day 83.
Bonner Münster.
“Cassius and Florentius”, by Turkish artist Iskender Yediler in 2002. These two figures are buried in the church behind, and are Bonn’s patron saints.
Universität Bonn (University of Bonn).
Münsterplatz: Beethoven memorial (by E. Hähnel 1845), in front of the Postamt.
hashtag Bonn, at Sternstrasse
Stadtgarten: Neues Beethoven Denkmal, by M. Lüpertz, 2013. In 2022, I saw another copy of this very same sculpture at Vienna’s Beethovenplatz.
“In this house Beethoven was born on 17 December 1770.”
Famous Beethoven portrait by J. Stiehler, 1820.
Inside Bonn’s Haribo store with lots of gummy bears.
Afternoon light, Am Neutor.
All photos were made with an iPhone15 on 29 Jul 2024. This post composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.
Fotoeins Fotografie 