Saarschleife

Coordinates: 49°30′04″N 6°32′58″E / 49.50111°N 6.54944°E / 49.50111; 6.54944
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Saarschleife as viewed from the observation tower on the Treetop Walk Saarschleife
Aerial image of the Saarschleife. The castle Montclair is located on the mountain ridge. The Treetop Walk Saarschleife can be seen in the bottom right corner
Visitor Terrace from the historic Cloef viewing area

The Saarschleife, also known as the Great Bend in the Saar at Mettlach, is a water gap carved by the Saar River through a quartzite layer and today one of the most well-known tourist attractions of the Saarland.

Location

The Saarschleife begins near the Besseringen section of the town of Merzig and ends in Mettlach. Although Besseringen and Mettlach are only separated by approximately two kilometers, the Saar makes a winding path that lasts nearly ten kilometers.

On the forested mountains within the Saarschleife, there are the historical sites of the former cloister church of St. Gangolf in addition to remnants of the former cloister complex as well as the ruins of Montclair fortress. The only locale located immediately on the Saarschleife is the village of Dreisbach, which can be reached by ferry.

On both the inner and outer riverbends run hiking and biking paths. An area west of the Saarschleife known as the "Steinbachtal" of approximately 100 hectares has been designated as a protected area.

Geography

The narrowing of the Saarschleife between Besseringen and Dreisbach stems from the fact that the Saar, coming from the

relief
. The quartzite divide most likely predated the colored sandstone layer that had gathered atop it, which was then later cleared away by the waters of the Saar. Together with the river's large meandering, the Saarschleife gradually deepened at a later mountain uplift. This step-by-step incision of the Saar is clearly visible to observers at the Cloef observation point when viewing the terraced sliding slope across the river.

This mountain spur around which the Saar flows has a length of 4 km and reaches its highest point at 318 m above sea level, while the surface of the Saar is around 166 m above sea level. The entire area around the Saarschleife is largely covered by a forest that is largely untouched. A beech forest grows on the remnants of the colored sandstone while hornbeam and oaks predominate on quartzite. On the steep slopes, the forests transition into a bush forest of hornbeam and oak. Due to the favorable climate, the evergreen sub-Mediterranean Atlantic holly grows here. Only lichens and mosses settle on the so-called "Rosseln" the scree heaps created by weathering.

History

Babenberger Family Tree, Stiftsgalerie Klosterneuburg, Niederösterreich
)
Ruins of Castle Montclair

The advantage offered by a

Poppo von Babenberg, the Archbishop of Trier, succeeded in taking and destroying the castle.[1]

Nearly two centuries later in 1180, Arnold I., another Archbishop of Trier, authorized the construction of a new castle on the grounds. Given the name Montclair (

Louis XIV of France reached an agreement with the Archbishop of Trier Karl Kaspar von der Leyen to leave the castle ruined since it would be useful in case of a war with France. As a result, the castle's remains would only be stabilized two centuries later when Frederick William IV of Prussia initiated preservation efforts upon his first stay in Mettlach in 1835.[2]

During the

Saarländische Staatstheater in Saarbrücken.[3][4]

Treetop walk and observation tower

On July 23, 2016, the Treetop Walk Saarschleife opened to the public with an observation tower soaring above the historically popular vantage point known as "the Cloef."[5] From the observation tower, visitors can see much further than from the Cloef including the Mettlach parish church as well as the power plant at Ensdorf.

Famous visits

The Saarschleife is considered the symbol of the

Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia visited the observation point at Cloef on September 29, 1856. On May 16, 1939, Adolf Hitler also visited the Bend in the Saar and a commemorative plaque of the visit was later removed. Oskar Lafontaine and Gerhard Schröder were photographed together during a visit on the August 4, 1997. Nearly a decade later, the former presidents of France and Poland Jacques Chirac and Lech Kaczyński met for a three-party summit with Angela Merkel
on December 5, 2006.

  • View of the Saarschleife from the Cloef
    View of the Saarschleife from the Cloef
  • Observation tower of the Treetop Walk Saarschleife
    Observation tower of the Treetop Walk Saarschleife
  • Saarschleife panorama from the banks of the Saar
    Saarschleife panorama from the banks of the Saar
  • The ferry ship Welles transports passengers across the Saar near the Saarschleife.
    The ferry ship Welles transports passengers across the Saar near the Saarschleife.
  • Observation tower on the Treetop Walk Saarschleife
    Observation tower on the Treetop Walk Saarschleife
  • Panoramic View of Saarschleife seen from Cloef
    Panoramic View of Saarschleife seen from Cloef
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Saarschleife.

49°30′04″N 6°32′58″E / 49.50111°N 6.54944°E / 49.50111; 6.54944

References

  1. ^ Herbert Liedtke, Karl-Heinz-Hepp, Christoph Jentsch: Das Saarland in Karte und Luftbild, Ein Beitrag zur Landeskunde, hrsg. vom Landesvermessungsamt des Saarlandes, Neumünster 1974, S. 80–81.
  2. ^ Herbert Liedtke, Karl-Heinz-Hepp, Christoph Jentsch: Das Saarland in Karte und Luftbild, Ein Beitrag zur Landeskunde, hrsg. vom Landesvermessungsamt des Saarlandes, Neumünster 1974, S. 80–81.
  3. ^ Gisela Tascher: Das erste Geschenk des Führers - Noch vor dem Gautheater in Saarbrücken planten die Nazis eine Ordensburg an der Saarschleife, in: Saargeschichten Ausgabe 1, 2012, S. 4–9.
  4. ^ Dietmar Klostermann: Hitlers irrer Saarschleifen-Plan, Saarbrücker Zeitung, 14. März 2012.
  5. ^ "Baumwipfelpfad Saarschleife". Retrieved 2016-09-27. Operator's Homepage

External links

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