Bonn

Bonn, a town of Rhenish Prussia, beautifully situated on the left bank of the Rhine (here 600 yards wide), 21 miles SSE. of Cologne by rail. The Minster, said to have been founded by the Empress Helena in 320, but dating chiefly from the 11th and 13th centuries, has been restored since 1847. It is a good specimen of Romanesque and Transition, and has five towers, the middle one 311 feet high. Near the Minster is a monument to Beethoven, who was born in the Rheingasse; and at Bonn are buried Niebuhr, Bunsen, and Schumann. There are seven other places of worship, besides English and Old Catholic congregations; Reinkens, the first Old Catholic bishop, having made Bonn his residence. The university, founded in 1777-86, in 1802 was transformed into a lyceum, but was re-established in 1818, receiving from government the beautiful electoral palace (1717-30) and other buildings, with an annual revenue of nearly £15,000 sterling. There are five faculties—medical, legal, philosophical, and two theological (Protestant and Catholic). The university had, in 1886, 124 professors and lecturers, and 1331 students. Among its professors have been Niebuhr, A. W. Schlegel, Arndt, Welcker, Dahlmann, Hermes, and Simrock; whilst Albert, the Prince Consort, was a student here. It has a library of above 250,000 volumes, a splendid laboratory (1868), an art museum (1884), archaeo- logical and other collections, a botanic garden, and an observatory; there is also a celebrated agricultural academy. The manufactures—jute, soap, chemicals, &c.—are unimportant. Pop. (1871) 26,030; (1891) 38,505, chiefly Catholic.—Bonn derives its origin from Bonna, one of the Roman stations in Germany. From 1273 till 1794 the residence of the Electors of Cologne, it was held by the French 1673-89; in 1703 surrendered to Marlborough; was acquired by France in 1801, and by Prussia in 1814.