Bonn's city history comes to life at the Stadtmuseum Bonn: At Franziskanerstraße 9, visitors can trace the development of Bonn from the Roman settlement to the present day. In addition to the permanent exhibition, the city museum has two other locations: the Ernst Moritz Arndt House and the School Museum.

More than 100 years after the founding call for a Bonn City Museum, the museum opened its first permanent exhibition in January 1998. The holdings are largely based on the collections of the Museum Association and the 19th century donation of Bonn professor Obernier, with a particular focus on the 18th and 19th centuries.

The museum traces the history of Bonn from Roman times to the present day. Other aspects such as the history of music, literature, the development of Bonn's cityscape and the history of individual Bonn companies are presented in separate rooms.

In its branch, the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Haus, the city museum has been showing special exhibitions on cultural-historical topics for almost 30 years.

The temporary exhibitions focus on the role of the city of Bonn in the past and present and its position in the art and cultural history of the Rhineland.