Open Day 14,000 visitors at Villa Hammerschmidt
There were long queues at Villa Hammerschmidt on Sunday. The President of Germany invited visitors to an Open Day and 14,000 seized the opportunity.
Those wanting to go to the Open Day at Villa Hammerschmidt on Sunday had to be patient. Long queues formed, not only in front of the entrances. A waiting time of an hour was also not unusual in the park in front of the villa and in front of the adjacent former Chancellor’s bungalow. Through until the evening, around 14,000 visitors took up the invitation from the President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, to view his official residence in Bonn and the former Federal Chancellery, now the seat of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
“I’ll gladly put up with it to feel like an empress for once,” says Veronika Kerschbaum from Austria, who is waiting with friends in front of Villa Hammerschmidt. Ernst Porschen is making the time pass more quickly for visitors with stories and anecdotes about the villa, which has been the official residence of the Federal President since 1950. “Formally, it is the second official residence, but we prefer to call it the Bonn official residence,” the city guide explains and grins.
Shortly after 12 noon, the Federal President and his wife, Elke Büdenbender, step out of the door. Hundreds of mobile phones are held aloft to capture this moment. Steinmeier is close to the people. He mingles with the crowd as he heads to the stage, where he will shortly greet his guests. His bodyguards break into a sweat. The host and his wife repeatedly stop and allow themselves to be photographed with the visitors.
On stage, Steinmeier praises Bonn highly. He recalls that the federal city was the cradle of the Federal Republic of Germany and that Germany had experienced “golden times” with Bonn as its capital. Steinmeier adopts a thoughtful tone as he talks about current problems in the world, in Europe and also in domestic politics. “I admit that we are not making it easy for ourselves at the moment.”
Then it is off to the stands. As it is the 200-year anniversary of the university, the event is dedicated to the Bonn science region. As well as the university and the Bonn/Rhine-Sieg technical college, the UN, the Museum König and many other institutions are offering activities. You can learn interesting things about foodstuffs of the future or environmentally friendly mobility. At one stand you can admire gifts given to former Federal Presidents, such as pictures, statues and national costumes from all over the world. “Each Federal President receives around 1000 gifts during his time in office,” says a member of staff.
Steinemeier’s route leads to the city’s stand, where Lord Mayor Ashok Sridharan is waiting for him. As patron of the Beethoven anniversary 2020, the Federal president of course also fills out a card for the new city campaign.
There is not only a lot of music on the stages, including from Querbeat, who fire up the crowd at the end. The cabaret artist and doctor Eckart von Hirschhausen provides a cheerful reading hour with Büdenbender and during a question and answer session with the Federal President, children in particular have their say. “What do you think of Trump?” asks the little Felix. “America is more than just the president,” answers Steinmeier diplomatically. “America is still important to us.”
Further information and the complete programme can be downloaded from www.bonn.de/@offene-tuer
(Original text: Lisa Inhoffen / Translation: kc)
