Germany Guide
North Rhine-Westphalia
The Weg der Demokratie
Between the Museumsmeile and the Rhine, the Weg der Demokratie ("the Path of Democracy") is a signposted walk through sites associated with Bonn's period as federal capital. It starts and finishes at the Haus der Geschichte, and while the full itinerary is too exhaustive for all but the most obsessive fans of German democracy, a stroll through the district underlines the former capital's low-key style, with leafy avenues and government buildings interspersed with suburban housing. The main landmarks are along Görresstrasse a couple of blocks east of Willy-Brandt-Allee, where Günther Behnisch's glassy 1992 Plenarsaal replaced an earlier home of the Bundestag – the lower house of the German parliament – only to be rapidly superseded by the new Berlin Reichstag. The adjacent Bundeshaus is a Bauhaus-style 1930s teacher-training college that was adapted for parliamentary use to counter Frankfurt's rival claims; the Bundesrat – the upper house of the German parliament – sat in its north wing until 2000. To the north, along Adenauer Allee, the 1860-built Palais Schaumburg was from 1949 the official residence of the German chancellor; it was here in 1990 that representatives of East and West Germany signed the treaty on monetary, economic and social union, and it remains the chancellor's Bonn residence. Further north, the elegant white Villa Hammerschmidt is the president's official Bonn residence.