Inscriptions: Bonn Square
This bronze plaque is fixed to the side of 1 New Inn Hall Street and was unveiled on 22 May 2009.
BONN SQUARE
Inaugurated October 1974
in honour of the twinning of
OXFORD and BONN
by the Lord Mayor of Oxford
Cllr Olive Gibbs and
the Mayor of Bonn
Re-opened May 2009
by the Lord Mayor of Oxford
Cllr Mary Clarkson and
the Bezirksbürgermeister of Bonn
Helmut Kollig
The plaque replaced the stone below, which stood in Bonn Square from 1974 to 2008, and is now in Cutteslowe Park:
BONN SQUARE
THE LORD MAYOR OF THE CITY OF OXFORD
COUNCILLOR MRS OLIVE GIBBS
AND THE CHAIRMAN OF
THE BONN CITY DISTRICT COUNCIL
HERR STADTVERORDNETER REINER SCHREIBER
NAMED THIS SQUARE ON 5 OCTOBER 1974
A sculpture in bronze by Diana Bell was presented to Oxford by the City of Bonn and was also unveiled on 22 May 2009. It shows two piles of books: some of the spines of the taller pile have KNOWLEDGE, TRUST, FRIENDSHIP, and UNDERSTANDING engraved on them, while the smaller pile has the German equivalents: WISSEN, VERTRAUEN, FREÜNDSCHAFT, and VERSTANDIGUNG.
Below: Lord Mayor of Oxford Mary Clarkson and Bezirksbürgermeister of Bonn Helmut Kollig on 23 May 2009
Bonn Square: History
The original St Peter-le-Bailey Church was demolished in 1874, and its churchyard was turned into a public garden: hence the ground of the square is much higher than the surrounding area because of all the burials that took place there. In 1900 the Tirah Memorial was placed in this public garden.
When the Westgate Centre was built in the early 1970s, the memorial garden was altered and renamed Bonn Square, to commemorate the fact that Oxford had been twinned with the city of Bonn since 1947.
In 2008 the square was opened up and paved, and trees were removed to make more space. It was unofficially reopened on 28 November 2008, and the official civic opening, attended by representatives from Bonn, took place on 22 May 2009.
Fuller history of Bonn Square