Overview
Bad Honnef is home to a mineral spring called the Drachenquelle ("Dragon Spring") which was discovered in 1897. This discovery led to Honnef, as the town was called at the time, transforming from a wine-growing town to a spa town, adding the prefix Bad to its name. The mineral spring has been used for both drinking and bathing.
The villages of Aegidienberg, Selhof and Rhöndorf are considered to be part of Bad Honnef. During his term as first chancellor of Germany, Konrad Adenauer lived (and died) in Bad Honnef, as it was near Bonn, then the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany. Also, German politician and leader of the Free Democratic Party Guido Westerwelle was born in Bad Honnef.
Since 2004, the current mayor has been Wally Feiden, an SPD politician. At the last local election, having taken place on 19 October 2008, she was confirmed in her office.
Since the 1980s Bad Honnef has developed into an important place for conferences in Germany. Because of the close proximity to the still internationally important Federal City of Bonn, many federal institutions are located in Bad Honnef. The President of Germany resides there (when you follow this link, it says the president of germany resides in Villa Hammerschmidt, located in Bonn).
The headoffice of the Nationalpark Siebengebirge project was also planned to be in Bad Honnef; however the project was doomed by a referendum on sept. 27, 2009.
Bad Honnef has the highest purchasing power of all towns in North Rhine-Westphalia, its percentage of millionaires is also one of the highest.
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