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Art & culture

„Urban Art“ at Völklingen Steel Works World Cultural Heritage Site

„Urban Art“

at Völklingen Steel Works World Cultural Heritage Site

Festival season

PERSPECTIVES Festival

In the largest Franco-German festival of contemporary performing arts, there is a blurring of genre-boundaries. Dance companies from both countries perform at about 15 venues in Saarland and in neighbouring France. The original experiment, which began in Saarbrücken in 1978, has spawned an extremely long-lasting cultural event that redefines itself year after year.

PERSPECTIVES Festival

Festival PERSPECTIVES

Celebrate festivals every year

One event follows another. As different as they are, everyone can be happy in their own fashion. The festival year begins in Saarbrücken with the Max Ophüls Prize for German-language films by young directors, and which has been responsible for the discovery of young talent from Austria, Germany and Switzerland for 35 years. It is followed in the early summer by the PERSPECTIVES festival with theatre, acrobatics, dance and performances. In summer, there is activity everywhere and several open-air events fill the festival calendar. Our overview shows you how things progress throughout the year.

The curtain rises on the 38th Film Festival Max Ophüls Prize 2017

Permanent cultural institutions

Dusty museum piece? It was once upon a time

The Saarland Museum landscape can demonstrate a lot of horsepower - including the ``Blue Horse (1912)`` by Franz Marc. It was recently the focus of the exhibition 'Years of Reconstruction 1952 - 1965'. Under the heading 'New Items 2000+', the acquisitions of the Saarland Museum in recent years have been put on display. They will soon have a permanent place in the Gallery of Contemporary Art, the extension to the Modern Gallery. New acquisitions such as these have been made possible by the Saarland Cultural Heritage Foundation, which since 1980 has ensured that the most important of the approximately 100 museums in the region operate at an international level.

Museums of the Saarland Cultural Heritage Foundation

Theatre for Kids

Young theatre lovers get to see high-calibre performances at, for instance, ‘überzwerg’ in Saarbrücken, one of Germany’s best youth theatres.

Theatre Überzwerg

Theatre for Kids

Movement on regional stages

The Saarland State Theatre in Saarbrücken has repeatedly won national awards for opera and theatre productions. Its ballet has also been given top dance awards. In addition to the main locations Großes Haus (Big House) and Feuerwache (Fire Station) sparte4 means that drama has found another venue for unconventional forms of theatre and experiments. A curiosity - the only floating German theatre ship 'Maria Helena' is anchored in Saarbrücken.

Information about Saarland State Theatre

Re-presented epoch by epoch

As far as art history is concerned, do you want to look even further back into the past? Museums like the one for prehistory and early history on Saarbrücken Castle Square and the associated Antique Collection present the gems of earlier epochs in the here and now. Such as the gold jewellery from the Reinheim princess's grave or the colourful murals of the Roman villa in Mechern. The old collection also continues in the form of three further museums under the direction of the Saarland Cultural Heritage Foundation: the Saarbrücken Castle Church restored in 2004 with modern windows by Georg Meistermann and Baroque princely tombs, the Roman Villa at Nennig with the largest preserved mosaic north of the Alps and the Newspaper Museum at Wadgassen, showing the history of the newspaper and contemporary history.

Industrial heritage

From gigantic workplaces to grandiose cultural areas

Stronghold of art and culture

The Völklinger Steel Works World Heritage Site is a gigantic steel plant from the heyday of the steel industry and is one of the most unusual UNESCO World Heritage Sites. You will be impressed not only by the massive architecture of the industrial giants, but with the exhibitions that tell of the harsh living conditions of the workers, of controversial business dynasties and human destinies.
Today, the Völklinger Steel Works is more than that: an impressive meeting venue for diverse, often spectacular and always exciting exhibitions, concerts and events. From unique exhibitions such as “Egypt” to the Urban Art Biennale, one of the world’s most fashionable street art exhibitions.

Völklinger - UNESCO World Heritage Site

From Reden to Garden of Eden

Water lilies decorate the water landscape of the ‘Reden Garden’, where until June 2012 generations of miners started their underground shift. That this heritage is much more than mere history is shown by ‘The legacy – an exhibition of mining in the Saarland’. A glimpse even further back into the past is provided by the Prehistorium Gondwana, another attraction on the premises of the former Reden pit, with its dinosaur adventure show. It takes its visitors – mostly young families – on a journey into the early history of mankind.

The legacy - exhibition about mining in the Saarland

Gondwana - the Prehistorium

Saarland industrial culture

Life in the coal & steel era

It’s not just the massive architecture, but also the social background of the industrial giants that is worth a visit. They tell of the harsh living conditions of the workers, of business dynasties and human destiny.

Industrial culture Saarland

Völklinger - UNESCO World Heritage Site

Witness to an exciting past

For further information

Former Reden pit

Industrial heritage pushes out new shoots.

For further information

Industrial heritage lives on

It has shaped the local landscape and mentality.

For further information

Subculture

Off locations & night owls

Discotheques, individual clubs and cocktail bars as well as the casino ensure that night owls will not get bored. For instance, the trade mark ‘C’est dur la culture’ stands for cult celebrations and events in off-locations or vacant locations with their own particular flair such as the former Volksfürsorge site or old Becolin factory at the Roman fort.

Informations about nightlife in Saarland

Art recaptures abandoned spots

Off locations & night owls

The area at the Saarbrücken Osthafen is known among the cognoscenti for its outdoor and indoor spaces that all have one thing in common: they arose spontaneously, over time, partly on abandoned or vacant areas. In a good mix of young and old. Created by people with an appetite for life and a driving force to set up things for their own sake. This developed into a hippy scene with a special energy.

Trip to the wider region

Culture knows no borders

If that's not enough variety for you then take a look at the cultural life of our neighbours. For in the European greater region Saar - Lor - Lux - Rhineland-Palatinate, French Wallonia and the German-speaking community in Belgium there are also cultural centres just a stone's throw away from each other. Whether you stroll leisurely through the streets of Nancy, visit the Porta Nigra in Trier, a bistro in the historic ambiance of Metz, or one of the many museums in Luxembourg - a trip to our neighbours is always worthwhile.