© Saarpfalz-Touristik, Eike Dubois
Baroque Route
The 100-kilometer-long scenic route explores the Baroque era and skillfully connects the former residences of princes, dukes, and counts in the German-French border region.
© BarockStraße
The Baroque Route, a journey of discovery and enjoyment, reveals the hidden treasures of life in that era to culture enthusiasts. It showcases traces of a pivotal era in European history that changed the world in many ways and whose influence continues to resonate to this day! Visit the four former royal residences: Saarbrücken, Ottweiler, Zweibrücken, and Blieskastel—the former residences of the Princes of Nassau-Saarbrücken, the Dukes of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, and the Counts of von der Leyen. On a guided tour with a “Baroque lady,” feel like the princes, dukes, or counts in their once-luxurious lives! Discover the porcelain of that era or Baroque recipes on a hike followed by a three-course meal.
Route
The four royal seats of Ottweiler, Zweibrücken, Blieskastel, and Saarbrücken, along with three closely related ruling houses, form the backbone of the BarockStraße SaarPfalz. Dotted throughout the region are the ruins of magnificent castles, hunting grounds, and the ornate gardens of the nobility.
From the charming Baroque town of Ottweiler, the Baroque Route first takes you via Jägersburg and Homburg to the ducal town of Zweibrücken. From there, it’s worth making a detour to Hornbach with its venerable monastery before arriving in Blieskastel—the former residence of the Counts of Leyen. Via St. Ingbert and Sulzbach, the route then continues to Saarbrücken, where you can visit a multitude of spectacular buildings designed by the famous Baroque architect Friedrich Joachim Stengel.
Goethe is still regarded as the “Prince of German Poets” and, by extension, the world’s best-known representative of German literature and culture. In late June 1770, the young Johann Wolfgang Goethe set out from Strasbourg, where he was studying at the time, on a journey to Saarbrücken that, as he later wrote in *Poetry and Truth*, “proved fateful for me in many ways.” Along the way, he visited and wandered through some of the places that are now prominent stops on the BarockStraße SaarPfalz. Follow in his footsteps there and let yourself be surprised and inspired time and again.
The BarockStraße SaarPfalz is a member of the “Europäischen Goethe-Wegen e.V./European Goethe Ways.”
Places of interest
