Das Schumannhaus Bonn ist das Sterbehaus des deutschen Komponisten Robert Schumann im Bonner Ortsteil Endenich. Zu dieser Zeit beherbergte es eine private psychiatrische Klinik. In ihr ließen sich auch andere prominente Persönlichkeiten behandeln, so etwa die Maler Carl Gehrts, Mihály von Munkácsy und Alfred Rethel. Heute ist das Haus eine Gedenkstätte und wird als Museum und Musikbibliothek der Stadt Bonn genutzt. Das Schumannhaus steht als Baudenkmal unter Denkmalschutz.

History of the house

The Schumannhaus was built around 1790 in the classical style as a country house for the electoral chamber councilor and mayor of the mayor Matthias Joseph Kaufmann. Franz Richarz bought the house and had it converted for use as a private psychiatric clinic. On October 26, 1844, he started his own sanatorium and nursing home there.

Robert Schumann came from Düsseldorf in March 1854 at his own request as a patient to Endenich (at that time still an independent place). Schumann was treated by Franz Richarz for two years. During this time, depending on his condition, he was only allowed to leave the sanatorium for walks occasionally. He finally died there on July 29, 1856. His grave is in the old cemetery in Bonn.

After the house was badly damaged in a bombing raid during World War II in 1944, it was restored in the 1950s and 1960s. This reconstruction was preceded by a public discussion about the demolition of the house. In 1963, the city's music library and memorial were inaugurated, but the building itself was only bought by the city of Bonn in 1984, supported by a considerable amount from the Schumannhaus Bonn Association, which was founded at the time.

Museum

As early as 1926, medical councilor Kellner suggested the establishment of a Schumann memorial in the old house in Endeich. He affixed a plaque donated by the Schumann Society in Zwickau - the birthplace of the composer and pianist.

On May 12, 1963, the two small Schumann memorial rooms on the first floor were ceremoniously opened to the public. There - as facsimiles - letters and documents from the Bonn City Archive and on loan from the Bonn City Museum, paintings and objects related to Robert and Clara Schumann and their surroundings are shown, supplemented by regular donations from private collections. With the purchase of the house by the city of Bonn at the beginning of 1984 and the corresponding spatial redesign, the music library, which had been limited to the upper floor, also had the ground floor at its disposal. The Schumann memorial rooms can be visited free of charge during the opening hours of the music library. The reading room of the music library on the 1st floor is used as a concert room for the Beethoven Orchestra's house concerts and special concerts, especially during the Beethoven Festival and, above all, the Bonn Schumann Festival.

Music library

The house also functions as a municipal music library and has around 51,000 books, sheet music and sound carriers ready. With almost 100,000 loans annually, it is frequented.

The Art Foundation of Sparkasse Bonn donated a cast bust in honor of Robert Schumann. It was made by the Austrian sculptor Alfred Hrdlicka and unveiled in front of the Schumannhaus on July 29, 2006.

Support association

The Schumannhaus Bonn eV association was founded in 1982 in order to proactively promote the purchase of the building by the city of Bonn and thus ensure its permanent use as a music library and memorial. V. In the meantime, the association is also the leading organizer of the annual “Bonner Schumannfest” (formerly: “Endeicher Herbst”) cultural festival. From 1992 to 2003 the association awarded a sponsorship prize to young interpreters of the Schumann work as part of the German Music Competition.