The partnership between Potsdam and Bonn began back in 1988, but received its first real push at the fall of the iron curtain.
The city of Bonn has 310,930 inhabitants and extends over an area of 141.22 square kilometers. Its history dates back more than 2,000 years. Originally founded as a military camp for the Roman legions, Bonn later became a baroque residence city of the Cologne electors, and from 1818 it became known as a university town when the Rheinische Friedrich Wilhelms University was founded there. Bonn became the provisional capital of the newly-founded Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) in 1949. Until the German re-unification, i.e. for more than 42 years, Bonn was the capital of the FRG, before this function was transferred to Berlin. The Bonn Münster (cathedral), the Old Town Hall, the high-rise office building, known affectionately as the "Langer Eugen," where the German Federal government had its offices while Bonn was the capital of the FRG, and the Post Office Tower are symbols for different eras.
Today, Bonn is an international center with important UN institutions and organizations, the headquarters of modern service firms and large enterprises in the information and telecommunication industries, a home to research and scientific centres, and also a city of conferences, with its new Bundeshaus Bonn international congress center.
Being the birthplace of Ludwig van Beethoven, Bonn still remains dedicated to music. The annual International Beethoven Festival continues to promote the composer and his city every year. The houses in the museum mile are new public attractions. The art and exhibition hall of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Bonn art museum, the House of History of the Federal Republic of Germany, and the German Museum Bonn attract more than one million visitors every year.
Each year between May and September within the Bonner Sommer - Bonn summer festival - many events present highlights of the international scene and interesting examples from the cultural life of Bonn. The focus is on open-air events in the market square in front of the Old Town Hall, series of concerts with classic and modern music, and jazz performances in the Rheinaue leisure park, which was once the park of the National Horticultural Show in Bonn, or on the roof garden of the Bundeskunsthalle (Federal Hall of Art), and in other places along the banks of the Rhine river. Another highlight is the Bonn Summer Cinema in the university's arcade courtyard, together with the popular international festival of silent movies.
In addition, Bonn has very interesting opportunities at the university or the technical colleges. Some 38,500 students study at the 'Alma mater,' which is the Rheinische Friedrich Wilhelms University, founded in 1818. With more than 13 percent of students from abroad, the university in Bonn is above the Federal average of 11.6 percent. Students from 142 nations put life into the city along the Rhine river. Four technical colleges complete the education and training opportunities in the region. You'll find more information online at www.bonn.de.
Partnership associations have managed the partnership activities between Potsdam and Bonn since 1990, maintaining one of the few German-German sister city partnerships that is still flourishing. The Potsdam club in Bonn has its pendant in the state capital of Brandenburg - the Bonn Club Potsdam e. V. You may contact the club by telephone at: +49 (0)331 - 288 12 32 or by email at: wigor@gfz-potsdam.de.
