Here's how to celebrate Beethoven's 250th birthday in Bonn

Beethoven-Haus in Bonn has re-opened to the public again, having closed temporarily to curb the spread of COVID-19, which means that the year of celebrations for Ludwig van Beethoven's 250th birthday can continue there. It has also been decided that the overall programme of celebratory events in the country will be extended until September 2021.

The museum will be open from 11am to 5pm from Friday to Sunday every week, and on the national holidays taking place on June 1 and 11. The new permanent exhibition has more than 200 original exhibits, including original manuscripts, instruments and portraits. Visitors must wear masks in the museum and shop and no groups are permitted, but families and people living in the same household can gain entrance, as can people living in two different households. No devices are provided, but media guides to the museum in several languages can be downloaded for free from AppStore or GooglePlay to play on the visitor's own device.

Beethoven Jubiläums GmbH was tasked with co-ordinating an interesting programme of national events under the BTHVN2020 umbrella to mark the 250th anniversary across Germany. While some of the extensive programme of events planned had to be cancelled or postponed until a later date, many have been re-imagined and can currently be enjoyed virtually. Although the year of celebration was meant to end on 17 December 2020, which is the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's baptism day, it has been decided to extend the celebrations to September 2021.

"The Beethoven anniversary was stopped in the middle of its successful implementation by the coronavirus," the mayor of Bonn, Ashok Sridharan, tells Lonely Planet. "The creative minds behind it did not let themselves be slowed down, and immediately set about moving as many of the events as possible into next year. New dates have already been found in June 2021 for the three big open-air concerts with Robbie Williams, Kraftwerk and the Fantastic 4. The Beethovenfest will take place in September 2021 instead of this September, with almost the same program, and we have just received several awards from the Art Directors' Club for our Beethoven Tour."

The full programme of events can be seen on the BTHVN2020 website here and the Beethoven Haus museum website can be accessed here.

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