Saarbrücken

Saarbrücken (; Rhenish Franconian: ''Saarbrigge'' ; ; ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken has 181,959 inhabitants and is Saarland's administrative, commercial and cultural centre. It is located on the Saar River (a tributary of the Moselle), directly borders the French department of Moselle, and is Germany's second-westernmost state capital after Düsseldorf.

The modern city of Saarbrücken was created in 1909 by the merger of the three cities of Saarbrücken (now called ''Alt-Saarbrücken''), St. Johann a. d. Saar, and Malstatt-Burbach. It was the industrial and transport centre of the Saar coal basin. Products included iron and steel, sugar, beer, pottery, optical instruments, machinery, and construction materials.

Historic landmarks in the city include the stone bridge across the Saar (1546), the Gothic church of St. Arnual, the 18th-century Saarbrücken Castle, and the old part of the town, the ''Sankt Johanner Markt'' (Market of St. Johann).

Saarbrücken has an international airport (''Flughafen Saarbrücken'') in the borough of Saarbrücken-Ensheim. The main campus of the University of the Saarland (''Universität des Saarlandes'') is located within the city forest of Saarbrücken-St. Johann, while the university hospital (''Universitätsklinikum des Saarlandes'') can be found in Homburg. The public broadcaster of the Saarland, Saarländischer Rundfunk (''Saarlandian Broadcasting''), has its seat on the Halberg Mountain in Saarbrücken-Brebach-Fechingen, and its transmission mast (''Sendemast Halberg'') can be seen from afar.

In the 20th century, Saarbrücken was twice separated from Germany: from 1920 to 1935 as capital of the Territory of the Saar Basin and from 1947 to 1956 as capital of the Saar Protectorate. Provided by Wikipedia