Bonn’s most famous baby

Bonn’s most famous resident over time must be Ludwig van Beethoven. The city was proud of him before it became the capital of Germany and was home to many famous politicians and remains proud of him now that they have moved to Berlin.

He was born in what now appears a small house on Bonngasse, but I suspect in its time it was quite grand.

Starting with this house, which is now a museum, there are nine points of interest relating to Beethoven in the city centre. Each of these points of interest has a map showing where the others are. They are numbered, so I presume it is possible to have a nice walk through town following them in order.

I decided not to slavishly try to follow the route, but rather wander around the way I normally do when exploring a city in the expectation that I would end up encountering them all.

Looking back at my pictures, including the picture I took of the map at one of the locations, I clearly did not see all the important Beethoven places in Bonn.

When I did see the iconic BTHVN pillars I stopped to investigate the relevance of the place to Beethoven’s formative years before he moved to Vienna and his career took off. The pillar is by what had been the palace chapel. The one by the school he attended was behind me as I took pictures of the modern commemorative plaque and the old images designating the building as a church school.