Arithmeum

The best museum in Bonn! The staff is very friendly and speak English. They can assist you with your luggage putting it in storage. It has the largest collection of arithmometers including schety. The other part is dedicated to the history and technology including mathematical algorithms of making chips. One can easily spend several hours in this museum.

The exhibition themed on computing technics from ancient era and early days of mechanical computing machines in modern era before the electronic calculator introduced. Well preserved machines or their replica are interesting for all the ages particularly of the young mind. Ticket cost very little.

A wonderful museum with a valuable collection showing the history of calculating machines — from ancient tools to modern computers. It’s definitely worth visiting if you’re interested in the history of calculation and technology. The staff were all very kind and welcoming — the lady at the reception spoke excellent English, a friendly young man who spoke a bit of Japanese helped me as well, and a kind young woman was with them too. Thanks to their warm hospitality, my visit from Japan was truly worthwhile. I’m very grateful to all of them!

Perhaps one of the best museums in Germany. No trip to Bonn is complete without a visit to the Arithmeum - so much to tickle your brain with - from interactive lectures on ancient computers to absolutely thrilling historical calculators which, if I had discovered earlier, may have saved me from dropping out of a mathematics degree. Staff were incredibly kind and well-read. Getting around all the exhibitions can be a bit confusing - start from the very top and working your way down the stairs is the best way for getting about it though! I'd recommend spending a few hours here - I was hoping to only spend an hour at most, but ended up spending ~3-4 hours since there was simply so much to do (it's especially interesting for mathematicians/academics). I was hoping to bump into Peter Scholze but unfortunately had no luck. Maybe next time!

Very unique museum displaying thousands of calculating machines! The self-guided tour starts on the top floor with exploration of abacus and other mathematical instruments of ancient times and continues all the way to the ground floor where current technology such as computers and microchips can be found. It is very interactive museum, so visitors can touch, try and play with many of museums items and machines and learn how our ancestors used these instruments to calculate in daily life - that is also a reason why visitors get to wear white gloves at the beginning of the visit so they can freely touch the machines and have truly hand-on experience. All necessary explanations were available next to the exhibits and/or in the English leaflets at the beginning of each section. Some of the calculations on the old machines and cogwheels were not easy to comprehend, therefore you need to be prepared to spend some time at the museum if you want to figure out how it works (we spent over two hours in the museum). There is unfortunately no audio/video guide for visitors to learn from, but the staff is available to explain if needed. At the ground floor that is dedicated to the modern 19th, 20th and 21st century, ''calculator wall'' can be found and many interactive and interesting games to play. The whole museum is also a large art gallery (not by an accident) and many modern types of painting can be admired on the corridors and in the rooms. Very colorful and intriguing indeed - creating a beautiful atmosphere of connection between art and science. The museum was pretty much empty on Sunday afternoon, therefore we had plenty of time to explore all the machines and calculators without waiting. Definitely an amazing place to have fun and learn something new at the same time! One of the most inspiring museums! Entry fee was very cheap, only 3 EUR (cash payments possible only) and we had to lock our backpacks in the locker room (the lockers were however narrow so we had to squeeze our belongings to fit them in). Face masks were still mandatory during our visit in July 2022.

Awesome and fascinating. Very well displayed, great staff , self explanatory books available in english as well. It is 4 floors, if you are curious to see how arithmatic was done in the past, you will spend a lot of time. A must visit. Not very expensive, 8 euros family ticket, and individual 3 euros

I've been to many museums and think this is my favorite. I did study math in college, but I truly believe that anyone will love this museum. It shows the history of how people have done calculations (add, subtract multiply and divide) over time. We could start with the abacus and other such devices, then move to instruments that remind me of the old fashioned clocks that have tos f gears in them, ending with machines by Olivetti. Visitors can play with some of these instruments ourselves. The useum is not particularly large, but I could have spent all day there. It was crowd free and a whopping 3 Euros to visit.

a small but great museum for science and art lovers. There are many hands-on exhibits for visitors to solve math questions. The staff was all very helpful and friendly. The entree fees is very cheap so definitely go visit if you are in Bonn. There are also enough chairs if you need to take a break.

This is a great museum for maths aficionados. Captures incredible history of Arithmetic in general and its cryptographic and more sophisticated discrete maths in particular. Several exhibits and all for about three euros fee. You can spend many hours on the four floors with some original but some replicas of some of the rarest calculation machines ever built. For English users, you have enough in English in terms of supplementary cards. Must visit if you are in Bonn.

Mechanical calculators? I literally cranked out numbers in this place. The old-school calculators had hand cranks to drive the mechanism. It was a lot of fun to be able to play with some of the display calculators. Most of the calculators that you can play with come with quite detailed instructions in case you want to follow along and understand the mechanism. A beautiful space, reasonably well documented displays (even with English info), and just the right size to spend about two hours museum-ing. The focus is clearly calculating machines, but there's art as well as modern furniture on display. In some cases, the modern chairs slightly upstage the calculators. The floors are laid out such that the top floor contains the most ancient calculators and each floor down gets us closer to the present day. Worth a visit.