Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany, located about 20 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia. It was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government until 1999. Starting in 1998, many national government institutions were moved from Bonn to Berlin. Both houses of the German national parliament, the Bundestag as well as the Bundesrat, were moved along with the Chancellery and the residence of German head of state, the Bundespräsident. Bonn remains a center of politics and administration, however. Roughly half of all government jobs were retained as many government departments remained in Bonn and numerous sub-ministerial level government agencies relocated to the former capital from Berlin and other parts of Germany. In recognition of this, the former capital now holds the title of Federal City ("Bundesstadt").
Bonn has developed into a hub of international cooperation in particular in the area of environment and sustainable development. In addition to a number of other international organizations and institutions, such as, for instance, the IUCN Environmental Law Center (IUCN ELC) the City currently hosts 12 United Nations institutions. Among these are two of the so-called Rio Conventions, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). The number of UN agencies in Bonn, most of which are based at the newly established United Nations Campus in the city's former parliamentary quarter on the banks of the Rhine, continues to grow.
Bonn is the seat of some of Germany's largest corporate players, chiefly in the areas of telecommunications and logistics.
Simultaneously, Bonn is establishing itself as an important national and international center of meetings, conventions and conferences, many of which are directly related to the work of the United Nations. A new conference center capable of hosting thousands of participants is currently under construction in the immediate vicinity of the UN Campus.
From 1597 to 1794 it was the residence of the Archbishops and Prince-electors of Cologne.

Next to the market place is the Old Town Hall, built in 1737 in Rococo style, under the rule of Clemens August of Bavaria. It's used for receptions of guests of the town, and as a bueraeu for the mayor. Closeby is the Kurfürstliches Schloss, which has been built as a residence of the prince-elector, and nowadays is the main building of the University of Bonn.
The Poppelsdorfer Allee, an alley flanked by chestnut trees, connects the Kurfürstliches Schloss with the Poppelsdorfer Schloss, a palace that was built as a resort to prince-electors in the first half of the 18th century. This axis is interrupted by a railway line and the Central Station of Bonn, a building erected in 1883/84.
The three highest buildings in the city are the radiomast of the WDR in Bonn-Venusberg (180 m), the headquarters of the Deutsche Post called Post Tower (162.5 m) and the former building for the German members of parliament Langer Eugen (114.7 m) which nowadays is the new location of the UN-Campus.

Churches

• Bonn Minster
  
• Doppelkirche (Double Church) Schwarzrheindorf built in 1151
  
• Old Cemetery Bonn, one of the best known ones in Germany

Castles and residences

• Godesburg fortress ruins 

• Bundesviertel (federal quarter) with lots of government structures including
  
• Post Tower, the tallest building in the state North Rhine-Westphalia, housing the headquarters of the Deutsche Post AG
  
• Deutsche Telekom headquarters
  
• T-Mobile headquarters
  
• Maritim Bonn, 5 star hotel and convention center
  
• Schürmann-Bau, headquarters of Deutsche Welle
  
• Langer Eugen, since 2006 the center of the United Nations Campus, formerly housing the offices of the members of the German parliament

Museums

• Museum Mile with
  
• Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany) showing the Guggenheim Collection in 2006-2007
  
• Kunstmuseum Bonn (Bonn Museum of Modern Art)
  
• Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Museum of the History of the Federal Republic of Germany)
  
• Museum Koenig where the Parlamentarischer Rat first met
  
• Beethoven House, birthplace of Ludwig van Beethoven 
  
• Ägyptisches Museum (Egyptian Museum) 
  
• Akademisches Kunstmuseum (Academic Museum of Art)
  
• Arithmeum, research institute for discrete mathematics including a museum 
  
• Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn (Rhinish Regional Museum Bonn) 

Universities

• The Rheinische Friedrich Wilhems Universität Bonn (University of Bonn) is one of the largest universities in Germany

Schools

• Aloisiuskolleg, a Jesuit private school in Bad Godesberg

Nature

• Botanischer Garten (Botanical Garden), where Titan arum reached a world record
  
• Rheinaue (Bonn), a leisure park on the banks of the Rhine 
  
• Rhine promenade and the Alter Zoll (Old Toll Station)
  
• In the very south of the city on the border to Wachtberg and Rhineland-Palatinate is the extinct volcano Rodderberg