10 largest cities in Germany
Berlin
Hamburg
Munich
Cologne
Frankfurt am Main
Hanover
Dusseldorf
Leipzig
Bremen
Dresden
The federal city of Bonn is an independent city in the
administrative district of Cologne in the south of North
Rhine-Westphalia and the second seat of the government of the
Federal Republic of Germany. With 329,673 inhabitants (as of
December 31, 2019), Bonn is one of the twenty largest cities in
Germany. Bonn belongs to the metropolitan regions of Rhineland and
Rhine-Ruhr as well as to the Cologne / Bonn region. The city on both
banks of the Rhine was the federal capital from 1949 to 1990 and the
seat of government of the Federal Republic of Germany until 1999,
after which it became Germany's second seat of government. The
United Nations has had a seat in Bonn since 1951.
Bonn can
look back on more than 2000 years of history, which goes back to
Germanic and Roman settlements, and is therefore one of the oldest
cities in Germany. From 1597 to 1794 it was the capital and
residence of the Electorate of Cologne. Ludwig van Beethoven was
born here in 1770. In the course of the 19th century, the University
of Bonn, founded in 1818, developed into one of the most important
German universities.
In 1948/49 the Parliamentary Council met
in Bonn and worked out the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of
Germany, whose first parliament and government seat was Bonn in
1949. As a result, the city experienced an extensive expansion and
grew together with Bad Godesberg via the new parliament and
government district. This resulted in the rebuilding of the city of
Bonn through the merger of the cities of Bonn, Bad Godesberg, the
city of Beuel on the right bank of the Rhine and the communities of
the former district of Bonn on August 1, 1969.
After
reunification in 1990, the Bundestag passed the Bonn / Berlin
resolution in 1991, as a result of which the parliamentary and
government headquarters were relocated to the federal capital Berlin
in 1999/2000 and numerous federal authorities to Bonn in return.
Since then, the Federal President, the Federal Chancellor and the
Federal Council have had a second official seat in the Federal City;
in accordance with the Berlin / Bonn Act, six federal ministries
have their first official seat, the other eight a second seat. With
the addition of the federal city to the name, the federal government
is strengthening Bonn as the second seat of government.
As
the seat of 20 United Nations (UN) organizations, Bonn shows a high
degree of international integration. In addition, the two DAX
companies Deutsche Post and Deutsche Telekom are legally resident in
Bonn.
Especially because of the headquarters of organizations
and companies, the cityscape is increasingly characterized by
several high-rise buildings in addition to church towers.