Bad Godesberg

Infobox German Location
name = Bad Godesberg
name_local =
Art = Stadtbezirk
Town = Bonn
image_coa = Wappen-bezirk-badgodesberg.svg
image_plan= Bonn-Bad_Godesberg.png plansize= 140px
plantext= Bad Godesberg within Bonn
state = North Rhine-Westphalia
regbzk = Cologne
district = Bonn urban district
population = 70525
population_as_of = 2004-01-01
area = 31.97
elevation = 46
elevationmax = 195
lat_deg = 50
lat_min = 41 | lat_sec=0
lat_hem = N
lon_deg = 07
lon_min = 9 | lon_sec=0
lon_hem = E
postal_code = 53173-53179
area_code = 0228
licence = BN
mayor = Annette Schwolen-Flümann ( CDU)
Bürgermeistertitel = Bezirksvorsteherin
website = [http://www.bonn.de/rat_verwaltung_buergerdienste/stadtbezirke/bad_godesberg/index.html Official Website]

Bad Godesberg is a municipal district of Bonn, southern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. From 1949 till 1999 (while Bonn was the capital of (West) Germany), the majority of foreign embassies to Germany were located in Bad Godesberg. Some buildings are still used as embassy branch offices or consulates.

Geography

Bad Godesberg is located along the hills and cliffs of the west bank of the Rhine river, in west central Germany.

History

The following events occurred, per year:
* 722 - First official record of the town (then named Woudensberg), which is located near a mountain held holy to the god Wotan by the Ubii, a Germanic tribe.
* 1210 - On October 15, Archbishop of Cologne Dietrich I lays foundation stone of the Godesburg.
* 1583 - On December 17, Godesburg is destroyed by Bavarian troops after Archbishop Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg-Zeil hid there following his conversion to Protestantism.
* 1792 - Godesberg becomes a spa resort.
* 1925 - Godesberg is allowed to call itself "Bad" Godesberg, identifying it as a spa.
* 1935 - Bad Godesberg attains the status of a town.
* 1938 - Neville Chamberlain meets with Hitler over the Sudetenland crisis at the Rheinhotel Dreesen in Bad Godesberg.
* 1945 - Bad Godesberg is the first major German city to be handed over to the allied forces without fights.
* 1959 - The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) decides on a new party program, the Godesberg Program.
* 1969 - Godesberg is incorporated into the city of Bonn. Since that time, it has been referred to as the "posh part of Bonn".

Twin towns

The town is twinned with several towns:
*flagicon|France Saint-Cloud in France (since 1957)
*flagicon|Italy Frascati in Italy (since 1960)
*flagicon|United Kingdom Windsor and Maidenhead in the United Kingdom (since 1960)
*flagicon|Belgium Kortrijk in Belgium (since 1964).
*flagicon|Turkey Yalova in Turkey (since 1989)

Education

Nicolaus-Cusanus-Gymnasium, a secondary school

Trivia

* John le Carré's novel "The Little Drummer Girl" begins with the bombing of the house of the Israeli labor attaché in Bad Godesburg.

External links

* [http://www.godesberg.de/ Official website] de icon
* [http://www.bonn.de/rat_verwaltung_buergerdienste/stadtbezirke/bad_godesberg/index.html?lang=en Bad Godesberg section of Bonn city website] en icon
* [http://www.soontobe.co.uk Blog by English Speaker new to the area with helpful info] en icon
* [http://www.godesberger-webcam.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=69&Itemid=72 Bad Godesberg webcam portal] de icon
* [http://www.kdrhine.com Information for a popular stop/start along the KD Rhine Cruise] en icon