Saarburg (, ) is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

of the

Trier-Saarburg Trier-Saarburg (; lb, Landkrees Tréier-Saarburg ) is a district in the west of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from the north and clockwise) Bitburg-Prüm, Bernkastel-Wittlich, Birkenfeld, Sankt Wendel (Saarland), and ...

district, in the state of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, on the banks of the river

Saar Saar or SAAR has several meanings: People Given name *Saar Boubacar (born 1951), Senegalese professional football player * Saar Ganor, Israeli archaeologist *Saar Klein (born 1967), American film editor Surname * Ain Saar (born 1968), Est ...

in the hilly country a few kilometers upstream from the Saar's junction with the

Moselle The Moselle ( , ; german: Mosel ; lb, Musel ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it jo ...

. Now known as a tourist attraction, the river Leuk flows into the town center and makes a spectacular drop of some 60 feet before joining the larger Saar that bisects the town. The waterfall is the result of a 13th-century project to redirect the Leuk through the city center. Saarburg is the seat of the ''

Verbandsgemeinde A Verbandsgemeinde (; plural Verbandsgemeinden) is a low-level administrative unit in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. A Verbandsgemeinde is typically composed of a small group of villages or towns. Rhineland- ...

'' ("collective municipality")

Saarburg-Kell Saarburg-Kell () is a ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") in the district Trier-Saarburg, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' is in Saarburg. It was formed on 1 January 2019 by the merger of the former ...

. The area around Saarburg is noted for the cultivation of

Riesling Riesling (, ; ) is a white grape variety that originated in the Rhine region. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet, and sparkling wh ...

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years ago, ...

History

The history of the city begins with the construction of the now-ruined castle by Graf

Siegfried of Luxembourg Sigfried (or Siegfried) ( – 28 October 998) was Count in the Ardennes, and is known in European historiography as founder and first ruler of the Castle of Luxembourg in 963 AD, and ancestor and predecessor of the future counts and dukes of Lu ...

in 964. It received its town charter in 1291. The city has a

bell A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inter ...

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

, the Glockengießerei Mabilion, which has been in operation since the 1770s, and the only one in Germany that produces

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

bells. From 1945 to 1948 Saarburg was occupied by troops from

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

. From 18 July 1946 to 6 June 1947 Onsdorf, in its then municipal boundary, formed part of the

Saar Protectorate The Saar Protectorate (german: Saarprotektorat ; french: Protectorat de la Sarre) officially Saarland (french: Sarre) was a French protectorate separated from Germany; which was later opposed by the Soviet Union, one side occupying Germany like ...

. French troops complemented the occupation until 1955. Saarburg has a proud history with bells, being the producers of bells for many German cathedrals.

Gallery

File:Saarburg, Burg, Ober- und Unterstadt Dm positie2 foto8 2017-05-29 11.18.jpg, Saarburg, castle, Ober- und Unterstadt File:Saarburg, die Katholische Pfarrkirche Sankt Laurentius Dm1 met de Moezel op de voorgrond foto32017-05-29 11.36.jpg, Catholic church (Pfarrkirche Sankt Laurentius) File:Saarburg, die evangelische Pfarrkirche Dm met boot in Moesel en brug foto3 2017-05-29 11.25.jpg, Reformed church and the river Saar File:EvKircheSaarburgGlasfensterChorfenster.png, Stained glass by Werner Persy in the Protestant Church Saarburg

Twin towns — sister cities

Saarburg is twinned with: *

Sarrebourg Sarrebourg (; also , ; Lorraine Franconian: ; older la, Pons Saravi) is a commune of northeastern France. In 1895 a Mithraeum was discovered at Sarrebourg at the mouth of the pass leading from the Vosges Mountains. Geography Sarrebourg is ...

, France (1952) *

Soulac-sur-Mer Soulac-sur-Mer (; oc, Solac de Mar, , ), commonly known as Soulac (''Solac''), is a commune in the department of Gironde, administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine (formerly Aquitaine), France. It's a seaside resort on Côte d'Argent, in the pe ...

, France (1972)

Born in Saarburg

Erwin Menny Erwin Menny (18 August 1893 – 6 December 1949) was a German general (Generalleutnant) in the Heer during World War II who commanded several divisions. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany. He was taken p ...

(1893-1949), lieutenant general in the Second World War *

Marianne Baum Marianne Baum (February 9, 1912 – August 18, 1942) was a German communist and anti-Nazi. She was executed after an attack on a propaganda show in Berlin. Life and death Marianne Baum was born in Saarburg in 1912 into a Jewish family. She had on ...

(1912-1942), resistance fighter against Nazism

References

External links

Saarburg homepage

Account of a Saarburg visit, with much detail

Websites in Saarburg
964 establishments Towns in Rhineland-Palatinate Trier-Saarburg 10th-century establishments in Germany {{TrierSaarburg-geo-stub