Willy-Brandt-Forum um 1950

In August 1912 the old Hildebrand inn and bakery burnt down for unknown reasons. Robert Hildebrand had a new contemporary building re-erected, which shaped the image of the lower market. It was an inn, a guesthouse, a bakery and a cafe. In front of this representative building was an altar for the Corpus Christi procession, a speaker’s desk for the fair ceremonies and a wine well for the wine festival. In 1927, Hildebrand moved the bakery to the opposite side of the market square, as he wanted to give up the guesthouse. The Neuwied district savings bank bought the building in 1930. They established a branch and set up a flat for the district manager, yet they did not change the well-proportioned facade. At the beginning of the 1970s the building did not meet the demands of a modern bank anymore and was torn down in 1970 to be rebuilt in a modern style. Since 2010 the building houses the „Willy- Brandt-Forum“ museum. Its exhibition and events commemorate the former Chancellor Willy Brandt, who lived in Unkel from 1979 till his death in 1992.