Beethoven House

Ludwig van Beethoven was born in the attic room of this house in December 1770 and lived in Bonn until moving to Vienna at twenty-two. By the 1880s the building was a run-down inn facing demolition; twelve Bonn citizens formed an association in 1889, bought it and opened it as a museum, which the same association still runs. The collection is the largest on the composer anywhere, with manuscripts, letters, instruments including his last grand piano, and the ear trumpets made for him as his hearing failed from his late twenties onward. A digital archive and a studio for listening occupy adjoining buildings.

What you actually see

• The birth room - the attic where he was born in December 1770.
• The ear trumpets - devices made as his hearing deteriorated.
• The last grand piano - an instrument from his final years.
• The manuscripts - the largest Beethoven collection in the world.

When to go

Year-round; the museum closes Mondays in winter. The Beethovenfest runs in Bonn in September. Booking is sensible in anniversary years.

Honest expectations

The house is small and can feel crowded. It closes some Mondays. Much of the collection is documents rather than objects.

Nearby

Cologne lies north; the Rhine runs beside the city.