by Susanne Erbay | Jan, 2026 | Bonn Sights, EN, points of interest, tradition
Bonn’s Carnival is also known as the ‘fifth season’ and officially begins on 11 November at 11:11 a.m. and reaches its peak in the days before Ash Wednesday.
Originally, Carnival was celebrated as a pagan festival to drive away winter. Later, Carnival was celebrated before Lent, the Christian period of fasting before Easter. This year, Bonn Carnival celebrates its 200th anniversary. To mark the occasion, there is a traveling exhibition on the theme of ‘Loss mer fiere. 200 jecke Johr en Bonn!’ (Let’s celebrate. 200 crazy years in Bonn!). The container will be set up in different city districts until October 2026. All information about the traveling exhibition can be found at https://www.bonn.de/bonn-erleben/besichtigen-entdecken/200-jahre-karneval-in-bonn.php?loc=en.
Even though not all Bonn residents like or celebrate Carnival, it has cultural and social significance. Many are involved in carnival clubs, of which there are
numerous in Bonn and the surrounding districts. Each carnival club has different ‘uniforms’ or costumes. The uniforms date back to the French occupation at the end of the 18th / beginning of the 19th century. The occupiers banned carnival because they feared unrest. But after the occupation ended people celebrated again, wearing the uniforms the French had left behind. This was a way of making fun of the occupiers, and later also of the Prussian occupiers. One remnant is the ‘Stippeföttche’, a dance in which men with sabres and rifles (which shoot flowers!) shimmy their backsides together.
The carnival associations organise many carnival events during the season. There are formal sessions, balls, dance parties, ladies’ sessions, men’s sessions and children’s sessions – there is something for everyone. Many a successful comedian or musician made their first appearances there and laid the foundation for their success.
The street carnival kicks off on Women’s Carnival Day. Traditionally, women storm the town hall on this
day, cut off the ties of the men and symbolically take power. This custom was introduced over 200 years ago, in 1824, by the Beuel washerwomen. At that time, the men brought the freshly washed laundry to Cologne by ship, received payment for it and promptly squandered it during Carnival. In 1824 the washerwomen had had enough and decided to take drastic action. They got together for a coffee klatch and founded the Old Beuel Women’s Committee 1824 e. V. Since then, the town hall has traditionally been stormed in Beuel where the Women’s Carnival procession also takes place.
On Carnival Sunday, the Old Town Hall on Bonn’s market square will be stormed by fools. The mayor will try to defend it – but of course she won’t be able to. From 11 a.m. onwards, there will be a lot of carnival hustle and bustle on Bonn’s market square – come and see for yourself.
The highlight of the Bonn Carnival is the Rose Monday Parade. For several hours decorated floats, groups
of people on foot and musicians and bands parade through the city centre and the northern part of the city. Thousands of people line the route and collect sweets and bouquets of flowers. For those who have never been: make sure you have enough bags for the sweets.
The Carnival Prince and the Bonna are the city’s representatives during the carnival season. They take part in numerous events and are the stars of the carnival season, as well as of the Rose Monday parade. The Bonn royal couple’s float is the last one in the Rose Monday parade, before the Bonn-Orange city cleaning service clears away the worst of the dirt from the procession. Everything has to be in order 🙂
It is definitely worth taking part in the carnival adventure, even if you are not from Bonn.
More information and dates can be found at https://www.karneval-in-bonn.de/start/index.html.
by Gert Fischer | Oct, 2025 | Bonn Sights, famous people from Bonn, history, points of interest
In 2025, the Fördergesellschaft für den Alten Friedhof Bonn e.V. (Friends of Bonn’s Old Cemetery Association) celebrates its 50th anniversary. The Bonn Greeters would like to offer their heartfelt congratulations! Through its work, the association makes an important contribution to the preservation and maintenance of one of Bonn’s most significant historical landmarks.
The so-called ‘Old Cemetery’ is easy to overlook. It is surrounded by walls and squeezed between three main roads and the railway line. Its entrance is at the beginning of Bornheimer Straße, almost directly next to the town hall. When you walk through the gate you enter another world. Graves from times long past lie in the shade of tall trees. Weathered gravestones and rusted wrought-iron crosses dominate the scene. Some are crooked. Many of the graves are obviously no longer maintained and are overgrown. The traffic noise fades into the background and birdsong dominates. It is no wonder that feature films are occasionally shot here. Fog machines are turned on and eerie figures stride through the night. The rattling of the railway is suppressed.
The cemetery has been in existence since 1715. At that time, it was located just outside the city fortifications. It owes its triangular layout to the fork in the road where Archbishop Elector Joseph Clemens – better known as the creator of the residential palace, now the university – had it laid out. It was originally intended for soldiers, strangers and poor people, i.e. those whose families did not have graves in the inner-city cemeteries. In 1787, it became the city’s only cemetery: Elector Max Franz closed the parish cemeteries and turned it into a ‘general burial ground’. The reason for this was the realisation that the overcrowded churchyards posed a health risk to the city’s population. In this respect, Bonn was ahead of its time. In most other cities in the Rhineland, such measures were only ordered during French rule after 1794.
The Old Cemetery retained its function as ‘the’ Bonn cemetery until its closure in 1884. From then on, burials were only permitted if the family already had a grave on the site, as there was no more room for expansion. The cemetery was surrounded by buildings on all sides.
An information board at the entrance, as well as the Fördergesellschaft’s website, offer maps and a detailed overview of the VIP tombstones . There is much more to discover than the graves of Beethoven’s mother, Clara and Robert Schumann, Barthold Georg Niebuhr or Ernst Moritz Arndt, because the Old Cemetery reflects the history of bourgeois Bonn in the 19th century. In addition to the graves of well-known and lesser-known Bonn families, the resting places of university professors also play an important role. This part of the cemetery register reads like a “Who’s Who” of the German scholarly world of that time. Scattered across the grounds, we also find traces of the British colony, which was important for the social history of the city. Somewhat hidden away are the graves of French soldiers from the war of 1870/71. Added to this is the art-historical dimension. A tour of the cemetery is always a journey through the representative funeral culture of the 19th century. Particularly important are the cemetery chapel – built in the 13th century as the chapel of the Teutonic Order in Ramersdorf and moved here in the 1840s as an early example of monument preservation – and the former market cross of the medieval market in Dietkirchen in the north of Bonn.
Another treasure of the Old Cemetery is its trees, some of which date back to the 19th century. This is where problems become apparent: in some places, monument preservation and nature conservation compete with each other, as the tree roots threaten historic graves. Nowhere is this more evident than at the grave of Ernst Moritz Arndt, where the oak tree he planted himself almost 200 years ago is in the process of overturning the gravestones.
Another problem is that the majority of the graves are no longer in use. The families have died out or now bury their members elsewhere. This means that time has practically stood still. This is a major challenge for the city, because although it can preserve the site as a whole, it does not have the resources to maintain the countless unused graves, let alone preserve the gravestones, apart from the graves of honour. On the other hand, ‘clearing’ the graves after the burial periods have expired, as is customary in normal cemeteries, is not an option due to the historical significance of the site and the existing monument protection. The support association helps to solve this dilemma. Among other things, it is responsible for the restoration of graves of historical or art-historical significance.
Another option is the ‘grave sponsorships’ arranged by the support association. In this case, the sponsors take over the maintenance of an abandoned grave, including the restoration of the gravestone, and thus acquire the right from the city of Bonn to be buried in this grave sometime in the future. Not everyone may like the idea of lying under someone else’s gravestone and being limited to a modest stone cushion with their own name on it. And some people also consider it morbid for someone to maintain their own grave during their lifetime. However, my wife and I find it somehow reassuring to know where we will end up – if nothing else comes in between.
by Annette Bohlen | Sep, 2025 | architecture, EN, history, points of interest
Built in 1957 and kidney-shaped, with a tiled base and a wide canopy: a (cult) kiosk in the middle of the UN and former government district in Bonn.
In this district, somewhat away from the city centre, there has never been many shops or restaurants, just a small row of kiosks for essentials during government times. But the most important newspapers were available at Jürgen Rasche’s kiosk, named after his mother, the long-time owner. This is where prominent politicians of the time, such as Joschka Fischer and Norbert Blüm, as well as employees of the surrounding federal institutions and journalists would meet for a coffee or a bratwurst. In this government district, the distances to offices and meetings or to the plenary hall were short on foot or by bicycle, and people liked to meet for personal exchanges in the absence of other options in the press club, in Villa Dahm or in the small bar under the substitute plenary hall on the banks of the Rhine. Or – as mentioned – for a quick exchange of information at the Büdchen.
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With the relocation of the capital to Berlin in 1999, the Bundesbüdchen initially lost its importance and eventually had to make way for the new WCCB (World Conference Centre Bonn) building. At least the noble kiosk was saved by its listed status and stored in a freight yard. It remained a symbol for the people of Bonn of the city’s heyday as the seat of government, so a dedicated support association was eventually able to finance its restoration, and today we can enjoy this relic from the days of government, now located next to the World Conference Centre, where bread rolls, cakes and more are sold.
by Gert Fischer | Aug, 2025 | EN, famous people from Bonn, history, Music, tradition
Nowadays, Beethoven festivals are almost routine. They take place annually. There is stable funding (we will draw a veil over the years 1993 to 1998), early planning by the artistic director and a firm foothold in the city’s society. At the first Beethoven Festival in 1845, everything was very different.
The occasion for the celebrations was not only the 75th birthday of the master, who died in 1827, but above all the inauguration of the Beethoven monument by the Dresden sculptor Ernst Hähnel on Münsterplatz. It all stemmed from what we would today call a ‘civic initiative’. At its helm was August Wilhelm Schlegel, one of the greats of the German scholarly world. His successor was a less fortunate choice. Heinrich Carl Breidenstein, the university’s ‘music director’, was a proven expert but had a difficult character. He was always controversial in Bonn society and was also openly attacked due to his enthusiasm for modern music (apart from Beethoven, he admired Liszt and Berlioz). He was simply not up to the task of organising a music festival with hundreds of guests in a small town without infrastructure or experience (Bonn had less than 20,000 inhabitants at the time). The matter was further complicated by the fact that King Frederick William IV and his guest Queen Victoria intended to attend. The support of Franz Liszt, which had already been needed to finance the monument, was a double-edged sword. Liszt’s connections were helpful, but his exuberant self-confidence was not. He polarised opinions and virtually invited criticism.
When Liszt arrived in Bonn a few weeks before the festival, at which he was to conduct alongside court conductor of Kurhessen Spohr, he immediately made his mark. He flatly rejected Breidenstein’s idea of using the Hussars’ riding arena in front of the northern city wall as a concert hall – according to a contemporary source, a ‘stinking hut’. The result was perhaps the greatest miracle in Bonn’s architectural history, which is otherwise not particularly rich in miracles: in less than two weeks, a consortium of Bonn carpenters, with the support of Cologne cathedral master builder Zwirner, erected a wooden festival hall in the ‘Raess’schen Gärten’. Today, we know this area as the car park in the Viktoriakarrée. With a height of around 7 metres, the building measured approximately 62 × 23 metres. However, it is difficult for us today to understand how contemporaries calculated that this space of just over 1,400 square metres could accommodate up to 3,000 visitors plus an orchestra and choir. The Bayernzelt at Pützchens Markt needs more than 2,000 square metres for such large numbers. In any case, the concerts are said to have been attended by around 2,000 people each. Incidentally, the hall was sold for demolition a few weeks after the end of the festival. The wish of the correspondent of the Leipziger Zeitung thus remained unfulfilled. At the end of September, he had wished the hall a long life as a music venue and not as a carnival’s hall. This is somewhat reminiscent of the current discussions about the use of today’s Beethoven Hall.
It was thanks in no small part to Liszt that hundreds of guests from out of town had gathered in Bonn on the eve of the celebrations. In addition to Beethoven enthusiasts including many Englishmen and a large group of Frenchmen led by Hector Berlioz, Liszt’s personal fan club also attended (mainly ladies who were almost hysterically devoted to him). Among them was the ‘it girl’ of her generation, Lola Montez, who was a dancer and always good for a scandal. How close she was to the maestro during those days was obvious.
The festival got off to a good start. The opening concert on the evening of August 10th, conducted by Louis Spohr, featured the Ninth and the Missa Solemnis. Even the critical critics were satisfied – although Spohr admitted that he had not known the Missa at all and had had to learn it in a crash course shortly before the concert. The next day was a day of rest, so to speak. The programme was limited to christening a ‘steamboat’ named Ludwig van Beethoven and taking it on a day trip to Nonnenwerth. On this and many other occasions, the people of Bonn held out their hands. The out-of-town guests found this unusual, and even local Gottfried Kinkel complained about the rampant commercialism and excessive merchandising.
The main reason for the festival, the unveiling of the monument on 12 August, was no longer under a lucky star. After a high mass in the cathedral, during which Berlioz had to climb over a barrier to reach his seat, the crowd gathered tightly packed on the cathedral square. It took an hour and a half before Their Highnesses, coming from Brühl, appeared on the balcony of the Fürstenberg Palace, today’s post office. The festive song composed by Breidenstein and ‘shouted by a male choir’ was blown away by the wind, as was his speech, which was delivered too quietly. The unveiling itself, however, was not the ‘scandal’ that many later generations would have us believe. Queen Victoria merely noted in her diary that it was unfortunate that the statue could only be seen from the back. It was not she, but King Frederick William IV who expressed his surprise, audible only to his immediate neighbours. Alexander von Humboldt, standing next to him, made the matter the most famous anecdote in Bonn’s city history with his reply: ‘Your Majesty, please bear in mind that Beethoven was also a rough fellow during his lifetime.’
The final day was the 13th and indeed an unlucky day. The grand morning ‘artists’ concert’ began an hour late, even though the king had asked for it to start without him and his guests. The egomaniac Liszt nevertheless delayed the start because he did not want to conduct his own cantata without royal accompaniment. This was untenable, but as luck would have it, the distinguished guests arrived just as the piece ended. So the maestro started from the beginning. The rest of the audience was not amused. After a few more items on the programme, the princes had to leave for Cologne to visit the cathedral. The audience was once again by themselves and had two more hours of music to endure. When it was time for lunch, most of the audience left the hall (‘Too much torment!’). The concert lasted until half past one.
The low point in the evening was reached at the banquet in the ‘Hotel zum goldenen Stern’ on the market square. Despite many toasts, Liszt did not acknowledge the French delegation. This led to turmoil and the ladies present fled. Only Lola Montez remained and danced on the table. Liszt had to lock her in her hotel room, where she promptly smashed the furniture.
Today’s Beethoven festivals are more civilised. The only reminder of 1845 is the iconic monument on Münsterplatz. And perhaps that’s just as well.
by Ursula Dillenburger-Brendt | Jun, 2025 | EN, Events, Music, tradition
On August 28th, the time has come: The Beethovenfest 2025 will open under the patronage of Hendrik Wüst, Minister-President of NRW, followed by over 100 events in and around Bonn until September 27th. During this time, the city of Bonn will be dedicated to its greatest son, Ludwig van Beethoven, and his music. The festival looks back on a long and rich history. It first took place in 1845 on the occasion of the ceremonial inauguration of the Beethoven monument on Bonn’s Münsterplatz. Composer Franz Liszt played a key role in its realisation, both as a financier and as artistic director of the entire celebration. He promptly devised a multi-day festival and, as conductor, designed the musical events in a concert hall specially built in 11 days. It was the beginning of a festival tradition that continues to this day. Initially held only on important Beethoven anniversaries, pianist Elly Ney established a regular schedule for the festival in the 1930s. Since the construction of the new Beethoven Hall in 1959, it has taken place every two to three years, and since 1999, every autumn for four weeks. The people of Bonn support the festival with two associations, the “Freundeskreis Beethovenfest Bonn e.V.” and the “Bürger für Beethoven“, and with their regular attendance.
The festival has always seen itself as a bridge between tradition and innovation, treating Beethoven’s works not as a museum opus, but as a source of inspiration for musical exploration. Beethoven’s pieces are performed, reinterpreted and juxtaposed with contemporary music. Furthermore, commissions encourage a modern, direct engagement.
This year’s festival motto “Alles ultra”, loosely adapted from J.W. von Goethe, is fitting. The slogan stands for the pursuit of new things, creative innovation, and the pushing of boundaries. While Goethe denounced the excesses of his contemporaries as a problematic development resulting in disorientation and mediocrity with “Everything but… is now ultra! Everything transcends unstoppably, in thought as well as in action” in 1825, in Bonn 2025, “Everything ultra” is reinterpreted and understood not only as an interpretation of world events but above all as an expression of Beethoven’s nature and his musical genius. For it was precisely the nonconformist Beethoven who often took uncharted paths and actively and innovatively approached the future. Appropriately, artistic director Steven Walter is promising “around 100 events to celebrate our colourful, vibrant, and, despite all the social concerns, also full of opportunities. A festival is dedicated to human diversity, the positively crazy, and the humanistic “ultras” – entirely in the spirit of Beethoven” and promises: “The Beethovenfest Bonn 2025 will be loud, it will be surprising, it will be chic, it will be moving – and certainly ultra!” – Well then!
If you look through the Beethovenfest program, you will indeed discover a lively potpourri of concert forms. As expected, there are the major symphony concerts at the Opera House by famous orchestras playing works by Beethoven (2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th Symphonies as well as the Violin Concerto – after all, it is still the Beethovenfest), but also symphonic works by Mozart, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, and others. Also notable are the many chamber concerts taking place at a wide variety of venues: Classical chamber music, with piano and string ensembles, is primarily represented in the Chamber Music Hall of the Beethovenhaus. At the other venues performances are mixed according to the motto “Anything but classical” where unusual, new and even improvised interplay between various instruments creates unusual yet fascinating sound experiences. For example, the Kreuzkirche offers cross-genre soundscapes, a walk-in musical theatre and relaxed after-work concerts. The “Pantheon,” “Harmonie,” and “Haus der Springmaus” cabaret theatres offer a colourful mix of performances, and percussion concerts are popular at the Dransdorf tram station.
The Beethovenfest Bonn has always been distinguished by its international appeal and high artistic quality. The program serves as a platform for encounters and artistic exchange between renowned musicians and up-and-coming young talents. As part of the Fellowship Program and the Beethoven Talents program, young musicians are given the opportunity to make the leap to the stage with exclusive master classes, coaching, and concerts. Bonn pianist Fabian Müller, now a star of the Bonn music scene, has already taken this path. He will be represented at the Beethovenfest with five concerts. He will conduct his own orchestra with Beethoven’s Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3 and, over four evenings, he will complete his project to play all 32 Beethoven sonatas, spread across two festivals. He will precede each Beethoven work with his own musical preface. Listening to him is a pleasure, and attending one of his concerts is highly recommended.
“Alles Ultra” from August 28 to September 27, 2025, in Bonn? The Beethovenfest, with its blend of traditional and innovative, will offer us a sizzling mix where everyone is sure to find something for themselves and can even be tempted to try something new. I’m looking forward to it!
by Helga Stark | Jun, 2025 | EN, Events, Music
Most people think of Beethoven and classical music when they think of Bonn, but Bonn also has a lot to offer in terms of other genres of music.
Back in the 60s and 70s, Bonn was a hotspot for music, and even Queen, who were still unknown at the time, performed at the Club Underground. Other bands also made this music club famous. Even though the Underground had to close after only three years and other so-called beat clubs also did not survive, the spirit of that time can still be felt in the city today.
Bonn has numerous pubs where live bands perform (e.g. Kater 26, Session, Namenlos, Mausefalle 33 1/3… and many more). Every Thursday, Session hosts a jam session with local blues musicians that is definitely not to be missed! Music performances are also becoming increasingly common on small stages such as the Rheinbühne and the Pantheon.
A special highlight in Bonn-Endenich is the Harmonie. This music hall-style venue hosts live performances by artists of various genres from September to May. If you’re interested, take a look here. Even WDR Rockpalast still records concerts in this great hall, where photos on the walls show which music greats have played here.
The outdoor music season generally starts at the beginning of May with ‘Rhein in Flammen’ (Rhine in Flames) where several stages ensure that everyone from hard rockers to lovers of Cologne music get their money’s worth. And it’s free and outdoors, like so much else in Bonn.
The concerts in the beer garden of the Parkrestaurant Rheinaue are also an integral part of the Bonn summer, with cover bands performing almost daily from mid-July to the end of August and Latin music on Sundays. More information is available here.
The Bonn City Garden offers a wide variety of musical events in August.
In August, the younger generation can look forward to the two-day Green Juice Festival with indie, pop, rock and a colourful supporting programme.
At Jeck im Sunnesching you can see people in carnival costumes parading through Bonn in the middle of summer!
The big names in music can be found at Kunstrasen. From BAP (sold out) to Lynnard Skynnard and Deichkind, there are some high-quality concerts.
In Bad Godesberg, don’t miss ‘Musik im Park’ and Musik unter der Zeder.
In Beuel, established musicians and up-and-coming artists perform at ‘Musik auf der Treppe’.
Bonn has music in every corner and city council even has a representative for rock and pop! This list is certainly not exhaustive and is influenced by the author’s age and musical taste 🙂 So, music lovers will get their money’s worth in Bonn, and why not combine a concert with a Greet?
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