Tracing the path of German democracy

The legislative body known as the Bundesrat, or Federal Council, had its primary seat in this building in Bonn until the body moved to Berlin in 2000. Plenary sessions took place in the assembly hall of the adjoining Pedagogical Academy, where laws were drafted, discussed and voted. The Basic Law, the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany, also has its origins there.

This plenary chamber in the former Bundesrat building is where the Parliamentary Council negotiated a provisional constitution for the young Federal Republic of Germany just after WWII. The council consisted of 65 members — 61 men and four women. After lengthy negotiations, the Basic Law was passed in May 1949 by a vote of 53 to 12. The Federal Council also met in this room from 1949 to 2000.

A new exhibition called "The German Basic Law," held in the former Bundesrat building, focuses on the historic hall that was central to the process of drafting the Basic Law. The exhibition organized by the Haus der Geschichte, Bonn's German history museum, includes several items from the Bonn Republic, the era from 1949 to 1990 when Germany was divided into East and West.

A one-story, simple and bright space designed to represent the values of the new Federal Republic of Germany, the bungalow served as the chancellor's residence starting in 1964. Many historic meetings also took place there, including one in June 1989 with the last leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev. A protected monument since 2001, the building now hosts events and concerts.

It was the control center of the Bonn Republic: the chancellor's office in the Federal Chancellery. Helmut Schmidt, chancellor from 1974-1982, is seen here leafing through files in 1976. Gerhard Schröder, in office from 1998-2005, was the last to use it has his primary office for a year before moving to Berlin in 1999. Today, the study in the former Federal Chancellery is open to visitors.

This palace, completed in 1860, was named after its second owner, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe. Surrounded by a large park with historic trees, the white neoclassical-style building served from 1949-1976 as the primary seat of the Federal Chancellery; the chancellor's bungalow was also later built on the park grounds. Many treaties were signed there.

It's called the "White House of Bonn," since it looks a bit like the one in Washington, DC. The Villa Hammerschmidt is another symbol of the Bonn Republic's young democracy, as it housed the first president of the Federal Republic of Germany and his successors until Berlin's Bellevue Palace took on that role in 1994. Hammerschmidt still serves as a secondary official seat for the president.

Politicians regularly answered journalists' questions here in the historic hall of the Federal Press Conference, an association of full-time journalists. Known in German as the Bundespressekonferenz (BPK), it was created in the autumn of 1949. Foreign state representatives also made a stop here; pictured above is a press conference with Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko in 1979.

The Hotel Petersberg is an impressive building with a special history. It was here that in November 1949, the allied high commissioners and the Federal Republic's first post-war chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, signed the Petersberg Agreement, a treaty that extended the rights of the Federal Republic. The Occupation statute was relaxed, which meant more sovereignty for the young democracy.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the lawn in front of today's university building was a magnificent ornamental garden; it was later used for agriculture. Today it is a space where students can relax, but the Bonn Hofgarten also witnessed turbulent times: In the 1960s, 70s and 80s, several demonstrations took place here — among other things against nuclear armament during the Cold War.