Museum of Bonn's city history – permanent exhibition closed since 2025, changing exhibitions at the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Haus branch.
September 18, 2026 – November 1, 2026
Traveling exhibition by the Stiftung Bundeskanzler-Adenauer-Haus marking Adenauer's 150th birthday, shown in cooperation with the Stadtmuseum at the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Haus. Seven interactive stations, aimed especially at young people, explore the first Federal Chancellor and questions of democracy and Europe.
The Stadtmuseum Bonn was founded in 1989, the year the city celebrated its 2,000th anniversary. Much of its collection goes back to 19th-century collections, including those of the Bonner Museumsverein (Bonn museum society) and a foundation established by Professor Obernier. Today the collection comprises more than 10,000 objects, including around 600 paintings, graphic art, rare prints, decorative arts, sculptures, and furniture, with a focus on the 18th and 19th centuries; among the best-known pieces are surviving parts of the Andreas Emmel silver service commissioned in 1792.
In January 1998 the permanent exhibition "Von der Römerzeit bis heute" (from Roman times to today) opened in a wing of the former Viktoriabad at Franziskanerstraße 9, which also housed the Nazi-era documentation center of the Gedenkstätte Bonn (Bonn memorial). As a branch, the museum uses the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Haus on Adenauerallee – the only surviving professor's residence from the university's founding period – for smaller special exhibitions and events.
Because the Viktoriakarree block was sold to the state for a university project, the permanent exhibition closed on August 31, 2025; at the end of 2025 the museum vacated the site. Since then, the collection has largely been in storage. As an interim solution, a compact show with around 100 objects is planned in the listed gymnasium of the former Pestalozzischule on Budapester Straße, while the former Münsterschule on Windeckstraße is under discussion as a permanent location. Historian Florian Pauls has directed the museum since January 2025.
Admission is free.
| Groups | –Guided tours bookable: 45 minutes €31, 90 minutes €62; please check current prices with the museum. |
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Free admission to the exhibitions at the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Haus; different prices may apply for individual exhibitions.
The museum hasn’t published any information on this – please ask the museum directly.
The museum hasn’t published any information on this – please ask the museum directly.
Bonn Juridicum
Bonn Juridicum stop; parking in the nearby university garage (Uni-Garage).
The museum hasn’t published any information on this – please ask the museum directly.
The museum hasn’t published any information on this – please ask the museum directly.
| Guided tours | yes |
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| School programs | yes |
| Good to know | Workshops for school classes are offered for the Adenauer exhibition. |
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