John F. Kennedy Monument (Bonn)
The John F. Kennedy Memorial is a larger than life stone monument in the Plittersdorf district of Bonn , which was erected in 1989 in honor of the former US President John F. Kennedy . It is the only statue dedicated to a politician that was erected in Bonn after the Second World War .
Location
The memorial stands on the sidewalk at the east corner of the intersection of Godesberger Allee 90 and Kennedyallee in front of a nine-story office building. The Hochkreuz / Deutsches Museum Bonn stop on the Bonn-Bad Godesberg light rail line is around 25 meters away, as is the copy of the listed Gothic crossroads " Hochkreuz ".
description
The statue was made in 1989 by the Cologne sculptors Herm-Jörg Barner (* 1956) and Marlene Dammin (* 1941). The clients were the architects Dirk Denninger and Dorothee Fiedler-Denninger. It was set up on November 15, 1989.
The height of the statue is 2.20 meters. It stands on a 50 cm high plinth with a plinth in the middle of a flower bed and is made of Weiberner tuff . The US President is depicted realistically: he wears a suit, shirt, tie and shoes; the arms are crossed in front of the body. The view is directed to the west over the intersection in the direction of Venusberg .
Historical background
During his tenure, John F. Kennedy came to Bonn for three days at the invitation of Chancellor Konrad Adenauer - from June 23 to 25, 1963. The President of the United States was held in high regard in Germany and represented a new generation of politicians and was considered a symbol of the dawn of a new era. Kennedy was enthusiastically received by the Bonners. Lord Mayor Wilhelm Daniels welcomed the President at the town hall and Kennedy signed the city of Bonn's golden book . From the steps of the town hall he gave a speech to the population of Bonn, which contained the statement: "The city of Bonn is the capital of the free world". 25,000 Bonn residents had come to Münsterplatz . Following his visit to Bonn, Kennedy continued his journey to West Berlin, where on June 26, 1963, in his speech at the Schöneberg Town Hall in front of around 1.5 million people , he uttered his famous phrase “ I am a Berliner ”.
The sympathy of the city of Bonn for John F. Kennedy is evident not only in the memorial on Godesberger Allee , but also on Kennedy-Allee, named after him in 1963, as well as the Rhine bridge connecting the city districts of Bonn-Zentrum and Beuel , which was also named in 1963 has been.
See also
Web links
- Entry by Alexandra Schultz on the John F. Kennedy monument in Plittersdorf (Bonn 2014) in the database " KuLaDig " of the Rhineland Regional Association
- Gabriele Zabel-Zottmann, sculptures and objects in the public space of the federal capital Bonn. Compiled from 1970 to 1991. With consideration of a selection of previously and subsequently compiled works , dissertation at the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Bonn , Bonn 2012, p. 134, catalog number 1959
- Film: President Kennedy With Adenauer In Bonn (1963) on YouTube , accessed on March 17, 2018.
- Film: US President John F Kennedy in Bonn, Germany at Critical Past
References and comments
- ↑ A total of 40,000 Bonn residents are said to have cheered the US President on when he entered the city and gave his speech on Münsterplatz.
- ↑ Martin Ochmann, June 23, 1963 50 years ago, John F. Kennedy visited Bonn , June 23, 2013, Bonner General-Anzeiger
Coordinates: 50 ° 41 ′ 48.7 " N , 7 ° 8 ′ 30.3" E