Locations

Arrival by public transport

• After arriving in Bonn Central Train Station, follow the signs to the bus station ("Busbahnhof").
• Walk through the bus station
• The main entrance of the University main building and the Arkadenhof are accessed from "Am Hof".
• Further entrances are located in Regina-Pacis-Weg in the Hofgarten (accessible via Kaiserplatz)
• Bus stops: "Bonn Hauptbahnhof" and "Markt"

Arrival by car

From Frankfurt/ Hanover/the Ruhr area

• A3 to interchange Bonn/Siegburg
• A560 to interchange St. Augustin
• A59 leave on the exit Bad Godesberg
• A562 leave on the exit Bonn-Bad Godesberg

Coming from the South

• A61 to interchange Meckenheim
• A565 towards Bonn, leave on the exit Poppelsdorf in the direction of the B9

From the North

• A555 in the direction of Bonn to the interchange Bonn-Nord
• A565 in the direction of Bonn to the exit Poppelsdorf
• Continue in the direction of the B9

Destination for the "satnav": Am Hof 1, 53113 Bonn

Opening hours of the main building

Monday - Friday
7 am - 10 pm

Saturday
7 am - 12:45 pm

Sundays and holidays
closed

Arrival by public transport from Bonn Central Train Station

• In Bonn Central Train Station, follow the signs to the subway ("U-Bahn").
• Ride the line 16, 63, 66, 67 or 68 bound for "Bad Godesberg", "Ramersdorf", "Königswinter" or "Bad Honnef"
• Alight at "Juridicum"

Arrival by car

• On the A 565 leave on the exit Poppelsdorf
• On Reuterstraße in the direction of B9/Bad Godesberg
• At Bundeskanzlerplatz, turn left into Adenauerallee in the direction of the city center 
• The buildings of the Juridicum are located on Adenauerallee 24-42
• Parking is provided in the University or market underground car parks.

• On the A 562 leave on the exit Bonn-Zentrum
• B9 in the direction of Bonn City Center
• At Bundeskanzlerplatz turn right (in the direction of Bonn City Center) into Adenauerallee 
• The buildings of the Juridicum are located on Adenauerallee 24-42
• Parking is provided in the University or market underground car parks.

Destination for the "satnav": Adenauerallee 24-42, 53113 Bonn

Arrival by public transport from Bonn Central Train Station

• • In Bonn Central Train Station, follow the signs for the Bus Station ("Busbahnhof").
  • From bus station platform A1: take a number 602 or 603 bus bound for "Uniklinik Süd", "Waldau" or "Röttgen Schleife"
  • Alight at "Beringstraße" or "Am Botanischen Garten"

   

  • From bus station platform E: take a number 604, 605, 606 or 607 bus bound for "Ückesdorf", "Duisdorf Bahnhof" or "Malteser-Krankenhaus"
  • Alight at "Kaufmannstraße"

Arrival by car

• • On the A 565 leave on the exit Poppelsdorf
  • On Reuterstraße in the direction of B9/Bad Godesberg
  •  Turn right at the first traffic light into Jagdweg
  • Turn right into Sternenburgstraße
  • After 300 m turn right into Clemens-August-Straße
  • The University premises starts level with Poppelsdorfer Palace

   

  • On the A 562 leave on the exit Bonn-Zentrum
  • B9 in the direction of Bonn City Center
  • At Bundeskanzlerplatz keep left into "Am Botanischen Garten"
  • Turn right into Meckenheimer Allee (the start of the University premises)

   

  Pay-and-display parking is provided on the campus. Destination for the "satnav": Campusallee, 53115 Bonn

Arrival by public transport from Bonn Central Train Station

• In Bonn Central Train Station, follow the signs to the Bus Station ("Busbahnhof")
• From bus station platform D2: take a number 610 or 611 bus bound for "Duisdorf Bahnhof" or "Lessenich Sportplatz"
• Alight at "Verdistraße", "Auf dem Hügel" or "Immenburgpark"

Arrival by car

• Coming from the South: A 565 leave on the exit Bonn-Tannenbusch
•  
• Turn right into Brühler Straße
•  Turn right at the first set of traffic lights into Bornheimer Straße
• Turn right into Am Probsthof
• The University premises start at Gerhard-Domagk-Straße

• Coming from the North: On the A 565 leave on the exit Bonn-Endenich
• Turn right into Hermann-Wandersleb-Ring
• Turn right into "Auf dem Hügel"

•  

  Pay-and-display parking is provided on the campus. 

Arrival by public transport from Bonn Central Train Station

• In Bonn Central Train Station, follow the signs to the "Bus Station ("Busbahnhof")
• From bus station platform A1: take a number 600 or 601 bus bound for "Ippendorf Altenheim" or "Uniklinikum Süd"
• Alight at "Uniklinikum Nord" (number 600) 
• Alight at "Uniklinikum Nord", "Uniklinikum Hauptpforte" or "Uniklinikum Süd" (number 601)

Arrival by car

• Further information is provided on the University Hospital Bonn website.
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Arrival by public transport from Bonn Central Train Station

• Follow the signs to the "Bus Station" ("Busbahnhof"
• From bus station platform B1: take a number 600 or 601 bus bound for "Kranenweg", "Agnetendorfer Straße" or "Troisdorf Bahnhof"
• Alight at "Pädagogische Fakultät"

The upcoming renovation of the University Main Building—the former palace and home of the Archbishop-Electors of Cologne—will be by far the largest single project over the coming decade. The North Rhine-Westphalia state construction and real estate agency (Bau- und Liegenschaftsbetrieb NRW, or BLB NRW) expects the work to take at least ten years, pointing out that complex renovation of a historic, listed building is always fraught with uncertainties that can cause delays.

Extensive and painstaking investigations are needed right at the start of the renovation work and are currently under way, beginning with the east wing, and the results of these investigations will affect the timescale—as will the competitive tendering process that will need to be carried out.
Large parts of today’s University Main Building date from the 1950s as the baroque palace, which had been expanded to its present size in the 1920s for use by the University, had been badly damaged by a devastating Allied airstrike in October 1944. During the postwar period, the building was restored using the resources available at the time. The precise condition of the building’s fabric is largely unknown because few records were kept, making it vital to get an accurate a picture as possible of what state it is actually in at the moment. This includes looking for any harmful substances that might be present. The measures being taken to analyze the building fabric include drilling holes deep inside the load-bearing components and opening up some of the walls and ceilings.

While the renovation is ongoing, an extension housing library and communication space, known as the “Forum of Knowledge,” is being constructed opposite the baroque palace near the Viktoriakarree. Besides new library space, a place for people to come together and communicate will be created on a site spanning several thousand square meters, which will be open to members of the University and city residents. The University is also planning spaces for students to learn and work, smaller areas for shops and catering and ample bike parking.

Alternative accommodation
While the Electoral Palace is being renovated, the space inside the University Main Building will be replicated at various temporary sites in the city center, primarily:
•

• The building at Rabinstraße 8, which will house the humanities faculties (completed)
• The building at Poppelsdorfer Allee 31–33 (formerly Deutscher Herold), which will house Central Administration
• Poststraße 26: Egyptian Museum, Paul Clemen Museum, Global Heritage Lab, Infopoint
• Heinrich-von-Kleist-Straße 22–28 (occupied since April 2024): Ancient History and Philosophy
• Gangolfstraße: staff council, Office of Disability Resources, Examination Office

Event rooms

Rabinstraße 8 has seminar rooms but no lecture halls, meaning that replacements for these need to be found elsewhere. The lecture halls in the University Main Building will therefore remain in use for a few years (until 2026 at least) as renovation gets under way. The following replacement event rooms are available:

• Renting a floor in the former Karstadt department store in Poststraße (contract signed in 2024, planning ongoing)
• Equipping the east wing of the University Main Building with two lecture halls earlier than originally planned
• Bringing the lecture hall in the Academic Museum of Art back into service
• Setting up a temporary main auditorium in the Hofgarten in front of the palace facade
• Relocating the University Museum to the east wing of the Main Building while it is being renovated

Academic Museum of Art

BLB NRW began renovating the Academic Museum of Art in 2022. The building houses the oldest museum in the city of Bonn and used to contain the world-famous collection of plaster casts, featuring 2,700 castings and 25,000 original finds, which have now been moved elsewhere until work is complete. The museum is being accommodated temporarily at Römerstraße 164, where it remains open to visitors. The interventions into the subsoil that were required for the renovation process were supported by expert archaeologists and brought a wealth of archaeological finds to light. These artifacts need to be safeguarded at all costs, which is slowing down the building work, although BLB NRW is pressing ahead with all the measures not affected by these excavations. It is not yet known when the renovation will be complete.

The Poppelsdorf Campus covers a site more than 15 hectares in size that was previously used as test fields by the Faculty of Agriculture. Since these were relocated to sites outside of the city, the area has become home to the University’s central Poppelsdorf Campus, complete with many new buildings for research and teaching. The first phase of construction, comprising a modern lecture hall building and two large departmental buildings, was finished in 2017.

Rotation Building
BLB NRW has constructed a laboratory and seminar building on the Poppelsdorf Campus on behalf of the University of Bonn. Formally opened in late September 2024 and known as the “Rotation Building,” it is set to have the capacity to provide temporary accommodation to University institutes and departments on an alternating (or “rotating”) basis. First to make the move are Nutrition and Food Sciences, with some Physics teams following suit in spring 2025. Students, researchers and teachers will mainly be able to make use of laboratories, offices and seminar rooms in the newbuild with its 8,300 or so square meters of usable space, while a large inner courtyard will provide an inviting place to simply come and spend time.

Poppelsdorf Palace
Work on the Poppelsdorf Palace is largely complete now that BLB NRW has, amongst other things, repaired and restored all roofs and facades of the palace in line with listed building regulations. There is still some work going on underneath the future inner courtyard, with the subsoil being filled in and compacted and new paving laid. The natural-stone floor along the arcade is also being repaired and the gates painted during this phase.

Teaching and Research Forum
The replacement for the general-use building known as Allgemeines Verfügungszentrum I (AVZ I), which used to stand at the corner of Nußallee and Endenicher Allee, is being constructed on Reinhard-Selten-Straße in the Poppelsdorf Campus’s central square. In the future, it is set to house five institutes from the natural sciences, namely those of Nutritional and Food Science, Zoology, Pharmaceutical Biology, Genetics, and Physical and Theoretical Chemistry. Besides offices and seminar rooms, the 5,600 square meters or so of usable space will also house laboratories, practical training rooms, a library, a lecture hall, lounge areas and an ample number of ancillary rooms. Sustainability and eco-friendly construction were key priorities when designing the building, which included incorporating living roofs and facades and choosing materials carefully.

Koenig Museum research building
Alongside the future Teaching and Research Forum is another newbuild, this time the largely completed research building for the Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig (ZFMK)—Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change, a private institution affiliated with the University (an An-Institut) for science and research purposes. Staff from the institute will soon be based here, working closely with their colleagues in the Department of Biology. Among other things, the new building will have a data center, wet laboratories, a biobank, a cryogenic storage facility, spaces for collections and an extensive library.

New pharmacy building

The new building for the Pharmaceutical Institute on the Endenich Campus is currently in a multi-year planning phase during which, among other things, the rest of the timetable is being fleshed out. More details will be announced in due course as the project progresses.

Replacement chemistry building

The replacement building for the Chemical Institutes will house laboratories and offices on four floors plus an additional recessed floor at the top for the building services and equipment. Once completed, it will offer some 2,800 square meters of usable space in all, over half of which will be laboratories. These will be kitted out with electron microscopes, vibration-isolated foundations and sophisticated sound insulation. A special ventilation system is also being installed to keep the temperature inside as constant as possible and prevent experiments from being distorted by external influences. The replacement structure will also relieve the burden on the existing Chemical Institute buildings, which are being repaired at the same time to improve their fire protection and remove harmful substances, among other things.