Historical Sites - Weg der Demokratie

Sites of German democracy

German parliamentary democracy is inextricably bound up with 65 sites. Where have key democracy related decisions been made? Where is the everyday business of democracy carried out? Discover these historic sites and choose your favourites.

Bundeshaus (Parliament Building)

This Bauhaus building became the Bundeshaus in 1949. Until 2000, the Parliamentary Council and both houses of Parliament met in this former Pedagogical Academy.

Villa Hammerschmidt

From 1950 to 1994 this villa was the primary residence of the President of Germany. The current primary residence is Berlin’s Bellevue Castle; since 1994, the villa in Bonn has been the secondary official residence.

Bundesrat (Upper House of Parliament)

The official seat of the Bundesrat in Bonn was located in the north wing of the Bundeshaus. Plenary sessions were held here from 1949 to 2000.

Palais Schaumburg

This palace, which was completed in 1860, was the German Chancellors’ primary official Bonn residence from 1949 to 1976, and since 2001 has been the Chancellors’ secondary residence.

Langer Eugen („Tall Eugen“)

Bonn’s erstwhile tallest building, and from 1969 to 1999 the Bundestag office building, is now the Bonn headquarters of the United Nations.

Bundeskanzleramt (Federal Chancellary)

From 1976 to 1999, the offices of the German Chancellors were located in the current Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development building.

Chamber „Deutscher Bundestag“

From 1992 to 1999, the Deutsche Bundestag (Lower House of Parliament) met in what was then a new building and is now part of the World Conference Center Bonn.

Museum Koenig

The opening ceremony of the Parliamentary Council took place here on 1 September 1948. The Council drafted the Constitution of West Germany, adopted on 8 May 1949.

Chancellor’s Bungalow

The Kanzlerbungalow was the residential and reception building of the German Chancellors from 1964 to 1999. Its first occupant was Ludwig Erhard.

„Wasserwerk“ Chamber

The German Bundestag’s plenary hall was temporarily housed in the former water treatment plant in Bonn from September 1986 to October 1992.

Hofgarten

In the early 1980s in particular, the Hofgarten, which is located in front of Bonn University, was frequently the scene of sizeable political rallies.

Tulpenfeld office complex

This ensemble – built in 1967 on the site of former farmland – housed until 1999 offices of the Bundestag and various federal ministries.

Dahlmannstraße

Dahlmannstraße is the former press mile of Bonn. Journalists from leading newspapers, magazines, radio stations and TV stations reported about politics here.

Altes Rathaus

This town hall (1737/1738) on Bonn’s market square has been used for official receptions since 1949.

Government guest house

From 1949 to 1952, the hotel „Petersberg“ was the headquarters of the Allied High Commission and today is a German government guest house.

Konrad-Adenauer-Haus

Konrad-Adenauer-Haus was the head office of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of Germany from 1971 to 2000. Until the building was completed, the party worked out of 17 different locations.

Erich-Ollenhauer-Haus

In 1975, Willy Brandt, chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), inaugurated the party’s new headquarters. The building is named after the party’s second post-war chairman.

Thomas-Dehler-Haus

This building was the last party headquarters of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) in Bonn from 1993 to 1999. It was named after former minister of justice and FDP party chairman Thomas Dehler.

Green Party headquarters

This building was the headquarters of Germany’s Green Party from 1995 to 1999.

Foreign Office

This building housed the German Foreign Office from 1955 to 1999, and since then has served as the secondary office building for the Ministry of Justice and the Foreign Office.

Federal Ministry of Post

This structure was one of the first Bonn ministry buildings, originally housed the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication, and today houses the Federal Court of Auditors.

Federal Press Conference

The Federal Press Conference was founded by independent journalists in 1949 and holds its press conferences in this building since 1967.

Willy-Brandt-Forum

An exhibition in the town of Unkel commemorates the life and work of former German Chancellor Willy Brandt, who lived there from 1979 to 1992.

Bundeskanzler-Adenauer-Haus

This building, the former home of Konrad Adenauer, is today part of a museum that pays tribute to the life and work of West Germany’s first chancellor.

Stadthalle Bad Godesberg

Since 1955, this building has been a major conference and convention centre, where, in 1959, the SPD adopted their party platform, known as the Godesberg Programme.

Beethovenhalle

From 1974 to 1989, the Federal Convention assembled here and elected German presidents Walter Scheel, Karl Carstens and (twice) Richard von Weizsäcker.

Federal Press Office

Since 1956, the press office informs about government policies and activities.

Deutsche Welle

Originally intended as an office building for members of the Bundestag, Deutsche Welle, Germany’s public international broadcaster, has since 2003 been broadcasting from here.

Press Office of the ECSC

This building housed from 1954 to 1958 the press office of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), which was founded in 1951.

Bundesbüdchen

The pavilion-style kiosk was a place of casual encounters, brief conversations and unofficial meetings of politicians, journalists and visitors from 1957 to 1999.

Deichmannsaue

Deichmannsaue Castle became the official seat of the US High Commissioner in 1950. The adjoining new building, erected in 1951, housed the American Embassy from 1955 to 2000.

Reutersiedlung

Between 1949 and 1952 this housing complex for members of the Bundestag and federal civil servants was built on a former allotment garden site.

Apartment complex

This apartment complex was home to Bundestag members until 1999.

German County Association

From 1957 to 2000, the Landkreistag was housed in this villa and represented the interests of Germany’s 294 counties at the federal and EU level.

Troilo Barracks

Since 1950 this facility has been the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food’s primary building and a secondary office building for the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.

Ermekeil Barracks

The former barracks building is official seat of the Federal Ministry of Defence and the birthplace of the "Bundeswehr".

Rosenburg

Built in 1831 for the Bonn paleontologist and zoologist Georg August Goldfuss, this building housed the Federal Ministry of Justice from 1950 to 1973.

Altes Stadthaus

Built in 1924/25 as an office building for Bonn’s city administration, the facility housed the Federal Ministry of Intra-German Relations from 1949 to 1957.

Haus Carstanjen

This castle housed from 1950 to 1957 the Federal Ministry for the Marshall Plan.

Federal Ministry of the Interior

This former police training academy was, from 1949 to 1999, the first office of the Federal Ministry of the Interior in Bonn.

Federal Ministry of Finance

Ten new buildings were constructed on the site of the former Husaren barracks for the Federal Ministry of Finance, between 1951 and 1954.

Federal Ministry of Transport

From 1949 to 1960, part of the Federal Ministry of Transport was housed in a wing of the Chamber of Agriculture building, which dates from 1916.

Federal Ministry of Economics

In 1949, the Federal Ministry of Economics and the Federal Ministry of Housing moved into the former Gallwitz barracks.

Embassy of France

Built in 1950 for the French High Commissioner, the French Embassy was established here in 1955, when the Bonn-Paris conventions were ratified.

Embassy of the United Kingdom

The British Embassy was established here in 1955, when the Bonn-Paris conventions were ratified.

Soviet Embassy

In 1975, the Soviet embassy moved to Viktorshöhe and added a new structure to the facility.

Embassy of the State of Israel

In 1974, nine years after Germany established diplomatic relations with the State of Israel, this building was constructed to house the Israeli Embassy, which remained there until 1999.

Permanent Representation of the GDR

In 1974, this Bonn building became the headquarters of East Germany’s Permanent Representative.

Embassy of the Netherlands

Despite the damaged relationship after the German occupation during the Second World War, the Netherlands established diplomatic relations with the Federal Republic as early as 1951.

Embassy of the People’s Republic of China

The embassy of the People's Republic of China moves to Bad Godesberg in 1984. It has maintained diplomatic relations with the Federal Republic of Germany since 1972.

Egyptian Ambassador's residence

This villa (1922-1923) was from 1961 to 1999 the official residence of the Egyptian ambassador to Germany.

Representation Baden-Württemberg

The Federal State of Baden-Württemberg constructed its State Representation Office at Welckerstraße 2 and inaugurated the building in January 1955.

Representation Berlin

Since 1949, the Berlin State Representation Office has been housed in a "Gründerzeit"-style villa on Joachimstraße.

Representation Brandenburg

Before the state of Brandenburg took over the buildings on Schedestraße in 1991, they were the Rhineland-Palatinate State Representation Office from 1952 to 1990.

Representation Hamburg

From 1950 to 2000, the State Representation Office of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg was housed in a villa on Kurt-Schumacher-Straße.

Representation Bavaria

From 1955 to 1999, the State Representation Office of the Free State of Bavaria was housed in a building on Schlegelstraße 1 that was designed by architect Sep Ruf.

Representation Bremen

In September 1949, the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen became the first federal state to acquire a plot of land in Bonn, where it inaugurated its State Representation Office in October 1950.

Representation Hesse

From 1949 to 2000, the State Representation Office of the Federal State of Hesse was housed at Kurt-Schumacher-Straße 8. Hesse used the building as a guesthouse and for cultural events.

Representation Lower Saxony

In 1990 Gerhard Schröder, Minister President of Lower Saxony at the time, inaugurated the new Lower Saxony State Representation Office on Kurt-Schumacher-Straße.

Representation Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

Since 1991, the State Representation of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania has been based in the building of the former Permanent Representation of the GDR.

Representation North Rhine-Westphalia

In 1952, the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia acquired a site on Dahlmannstraße. Two years later its State Representation Office moved into a newly constructed building here.

Representation Rhineland-Palatinate

Having initially been headquartered on Schedestraße, the Rhineland-Palatinate State Representation Office inaugurated its new headquarters on 6 September 1990.

Representation Saarland

From 1969 to 2000, the Saarland State Representation Office was housed in a villa that dates from 1910 and that was formerly the home of prominent Bonn architect Julius Rolffs.

Representation Saxony

Since 1991, the State Representations of Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania have been based in the building of the former Permanent Representation of the GDR.

Representation Saxony-Anhalt

In 1991 Saxony-Anhalt acquired a building on Dahlmannstraße, which the Federal State of Lower Saxony used as its State Representation Office since 1952.

Representation Schleswig-Holstein

In early 1954, the Schleswig-Holstein State Representation Office moved into a building on Drachenfelsstraße (now Kurt-Schumacher-Straße) and expanded the facility in 1984.

Representation Thuringia

In 1991, the Thüringen State Representation Office moved into a "Gründerzeit"-style villa on Simrockstraße dating from 1897, not far from Villa Hammerschmidt.