Beethoven's birthplace, at Bonn, is in the road 'Bonngasse'. A plaque tells us that "In this house Ludwig van Beethoven was born, December 17th 1770".

Nicely kept and restored, the house has been turned into a museum.

The house is L-shaped and has three floors. It is now consecrated entirely to Beethoven. The museum holds letters, autographed scores, paintings and sculptures, musical instruments (pianos, string quartet instruments, organ...) and lots of information on Beethoven and those close to him.

It's useful to be able to understand German, because nothing is translated in the museum.

The little garden holds three statues of the composer.

Left: a statue by Niaoum Aronson - 1905.

Right: a bust by Cantemir Riscutia.

Franz Klein (1779-1837), made this bust of Beethoven in 1812. The composer was 42 years old at the time.

In order to model this work, Klein began by creating a mask of Beethoven's face. This is, therefore, probably the closest we will get to a true image of Beethoven.

Klein's mask has been used for other statues, notably for that of Kaspar von Zumbush, at Vienna.

Several copies of the bust exist: the one at Bonn, another at Vienna and probably others elsewhere...