City, state and river.

The Saarland takes its name from the Saar River, a tributary of the Mosel; the Saar also appears in the names of the state’s largest cities. The Saar meanders charmingly through scenic countryside - a popular destination for tourists and hikers is the loop of the Saar near Orscholz. Grapes grown along the lower reaches of the Saar yield a wine prized by connoisseurs. Saarlanders have a partiality for more than the wine, however: Their local cuisine combines German tradition with French finesse - just one example of the symbiosis of the French and German way of life which is typical of the Saarland. The state capital Saarbrucken (187,000 inhabitants) is also an industrial hub and a convention center, the venue of the International Saar Fair. One fine Baroque building is the Ludwigskirche built in 1762-1775 by Friedrich Joachim Stengel.

The University of the Saarland in Saarbrucken, the colleges of art and music, and other higher education institutions and Fachhochschulen are attended by many students from neighboring countries as well. Saarbrucken offers a wide variety of cultural attractions including film and theater festivals, museums, orchestras and choral groups. The director Max Ophuls (1902-57), who was born in Saarbrucken, made film history with his delightful comedies. The name of the city of Saarlouis recalls the fact that here, about 300 years ago, the French king Louis XIV ordered his military engineer Sebastien le Prestre de Vauban to erect a fortress to defend his conquests in the western part of Germany. Today Saarlouis is an important industrial city (automobiles, steel, food and electronics).

Volklingen was molded by the ironworks founded here in 1873, which by 1890 had already become one of the former German Empire’s principal iron producers. This ironworks eventually became unable to compete on the world’s markets and was shut down in 1986; substantial parts of it, however, were preserved. Today it is an industrial museum and is used for cultural purposes. In 1995 the Volklinger Hutte ironworks was placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.