Blieskastel () is a city in the
Saarpfalz (Saar-Palatinate) district, in
Saarland
Saarland (, ; ) is a state of Germany in the southwest of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and the smallest in ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
which is divided into villages. It is situated on the river
Blies
The Blies (; ) is a right tributary of the Saar in southwestern Germany ( Saarland) and northeastern France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and ...
, approximately southwest of
Homburg (Saar)
Homburg (; , ; ) is a town in Saarland, Germany and the administrative seat of the Saarpfalz-Kreis, Saarpfalz district. With a population of 43,029 inhabitants (2022), it is the third largest town in the state. The city offers over 30,000 workpl ...
, west of
Zweibrücken
Zweibrücken (; ; , ; literally translated as "Two Bridges") is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Schwarzbach (Blies), Schwarzbach River.
Name
The name ''Zweibrücken'' means 'two bridges'; older forms of the name include Middl ...
, and east of
Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken (; Rhenish Franconian: ''Sabrigge'' ; ; ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken has 181,959 inhabitants and is Saarland's administrative, commerci ...
.
Geography
Blieskastel is the capital of the Bliesgau and is located in the center of the Bliesgau Biosphere Reserve. The city borders on the cities of Homburg, St. Ingbert, Zweibrücken and Hornbach, and the municipalities of Gersheim, Kirkel and Mandelbachtal. The Blies flows by Blieskastel. The districts of Niederwürzbach, Lautzkirchen and Alschbach are located in the Sankt Ingbert-Kirkeler forest area.
Climate
The annual rainfall is and is in the upper third. 70% indicate low values. The driest month is April. It rains most in December.
Organization
The city of Blieskastel consists of Blieskastel-Mitte and 14 districts. Alphabetically these are Altheim, Aßweiler, Ballweiler,
Bierbach an der Blies, Biesingen, Blickweiler, Böckweiler, Breitfurt, Brenschelbach, Mimbach, Niederwürzbach, Pinningen, Webenheim, and Wolfersheim.
Blieskastel-Mitte is divided into the city center of Blieskastel, Alschbach, and Lautzkirchen. The district of Brenschelbach is divided into Brenschelbach, Brenschelbach-Bahnhof, and Riesweiler. To the district of Wecklingen is part of Ballweiler, and Seelbach of Niederwürzbach.
Number of inhabitants as of 31 December 2017:
History

The former castle of Blieskastel was the seat of the Counts of Blieskastel, whose line died out in 1237. The daughter of the last count, Elisabeth, donated the monastery ''Gräfinthal'' in Gräfinthal in 1234. Castle and lordship came into possession of the Counts of
Salm, then in 1284 of Bishop
Burkhard of Metz, who relocated there from
Finstingen. After 1337 Blieskastel belonged to the
Electorate of Trier
The Electorate of Trier ( or '; ) was an Hochstift, ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that existed from the end of the 9th to the early 19th century. It was the temporal possession of the prince-archbishop of Trier (') wh ...
. The counts of
Veldenz are also counted among the officials of
Trier. In 1440, the
Elector of Trier
The elector of Trier was one of the prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire and, in his capacity as archbishop, administered the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trier, archdiocese of Trier. The territories of the Electorate of Trier, electorate and t ...
,
Jakob I, turned over half of the county and the "Hungericht" to the knight Friedrich von Loewenstein. In 1522 the castle was destroyed by
Franz von Sickingen
Franz von Sickingen (; 2 March 14817 May 1523) was a knight of the Holy Roman Empire who, with Ulrich von Hutten, led the so-called " Knights' War," and was one of the most notable figures of the early period of the Protestant Reformation. Sic ...
in his feud with the Elector of Trier. In 1553 the rule of Blieskastel was
pledged to the counts of
County of Nassau-Saarbrücken
The County of Saarbrücken was an Imperial State in the Lorraine (duchy), Upper Lorraine region, with its capital at Saarbrücken. From 1381 it belonged to the Walram branch of the Rhenish House of Nassau.
County of Saarbrücken
Around the year ...
. In the
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...
Blieskastel was depopulated.
Around 1660, the imperial ''
Freiherr
(; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , ) and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and in ...
''
von der Leyen, who had had possessions in Blieskastel since 1456, acquired the administration of Blieskastel from Trier and, in 1661–1676, built a new castle on the old site. In the 18th century under the Counts von der Leyen Blieskastel experienced a new flowering, as in 1773 they moved their residence from
Koblenz
Koblenz ( , , ; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz'') is a German city on the banks of the Rhine (Middle Rhine) and the Moselle, a multinational tributary.
Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman military p ...
to Blieskastel and built up Blieskastel as their seat. Under the regent
Marianne von der Leyen a cultural center was established in Blieskastel. A period of brisk building activity followed. The palace was further expanded and on the Schlossberg there were a number of outstanding palaces and mansions for the court officials of the small court, including the so-called "Schlößchen", attributed to the Zweibrücken building director and architect Christian Ludwig Hautt. In addition, other master builders worked there, such as A. G. F. Guillemard, Matthias Weysser, Peter Reheis and the master carpenter Franz Schmitt. During this time the former Franciscan monastery church, the former orphanage and the government building were built.
With the
French Revolution, the von der Leyen were expelled in 1793, their palace plundered and subsequently destroyed. The ruins were removed in 1802. In 1795 Blieskastel, like the entire left bank of the Rhine, came under French rule, and in 1798 was the capital of the canton of Blieskastel in the
Sarre Department.
With the defeat of France in 1814, the area belonging to France west of the Rhine came first to the ''Generalgouvernement Mittelrhein''. The canton of Blieskastel was placed under the joint Austro-Bavarian State Administration Commission after 1814. In 1816 Austria and Bavaria concluded an exchange agreement, after which the ''Rheinkreis'', the later Bavarian Palatinate, was assigned to kingdom of Bavaria. The canton of Blieskastel was subordinated to the district administration in
Zweibrücken
Zweibrücken (; ; , ; literally translated as "Two Bridges") is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Schwarzbach (Blies), Schwarzbach River.
Name
The name ''Zweibrücken'' means 'two bridges'; older forms of the name include Middl ...
, and, in 1818, came to the Landkommissariat Zweibrücken, and in 1902 to the newly formed district office
Sankt Ingbert
St. Ingbert (; sometimes spelled in full as Sankt Ingbert; or ''Dimbert'') is a town in the Saarpfalz district in Saarland, Germany with a population of 34,971 (2021). It is situated approximately 10 km north-east of Saarbrücken and 10&n ...
.
From 1920 to 1935 Blieskastel belonged to the
Territory of the Saar Basin
The Territory of the Saar Basin (, ; ) was a region occupied and governed by the United Kingdom and France from 1920 to 1935 under a League of Nations mandate. It had its own flag (adopted on 28 July 1920): a blue, white, and black horizontal t ...
(''Saargebiet''), which was put under French administration by a mandate of the
League of Nations
The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...
for 15 years. In the Nazi era Blieskastel was governed from Saarbrücken, until 1935 as part of Pfalz-Saar, until 1940 as part of the Saarpfalz and until the end of the war together with
Lorraine
Lorraine, also , ; ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; ; ; is a cultural and historical region in Eastern France, now located in the administrative region of Grand Est. Its name stems from the medieval kingdom of ...
as "
Westmark". After the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the city of Blieskastel was initially in the French occupation zone and from 1947 to 1956 in the partly autonomous Saarland, which, after rejection of the second Saar statute on January 1, 1957, became a federal state of the Federal Republic of Germany.
As part of a territorial and administrative reform of 1974, Blieskastel, which until then belonged to the district of Sankt Ingbert, became part of the newly created Saar-Pfalz-Kreis (now
Saarpfalz-Kreis
Saarpfalz (''Saar-Palatinate'') is a Kreis (district) in the south-east of the Saarland, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from west clockwise) Saarbrücken, Neunkirchen, Kusel, Kaiserslautern, Südwestpfalz, district-free Zweibrücken, and t ...
). At the same time, the city Blieskastel was extended to surrounding communities.
Blieskastel has been an officially-recognized
Kneipp spa resort since 1978.
Culture and points of interest
Attractions
The historic city center with the Blieskastel Town Hall (built in the 18th century as a government building and orphanage), the Hercules Fountain of 1691 and the Napoleon Fountain ("Schlangenbrunnen"–Snake Fountain) from 1804, is largely in the
Baroque
The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
style, which also includes the houses of the court officials on the Schlossberg. These, especially the so-called "Schlößchen" of 1776/77, are the work of the Zweibrücken building director Christian Ludwig Hautt. Altogether, the historic area of Old Blieskastel comprises 133 individual monuments and a further 65 buildings under ensemble protection. The city is located on the SaarPfalz Baroque Route.
Above the city once stood the castle, which was largely destroyed during the French Revolution. Only the 17th century "
Orangerie" was preserved. The building originally had twelve arches, and was restored from 1982 to 1986 and is used for lectures, exhibitions and concerts.
West of the former castle grounds is the former monastery church of Franciscan
Recollects
The Franciscan Recollects () were a French reform branch of the Friars Minor, a Franciscan order. Denoted by their gray habits and pointed hoods, the Recollects devoted their lives to an extra emphasis on prayer, penance, and spiritual reflecti ...
, built from 1776 to 1778 and today a Catholic parish church. From 1778 to 1793 the church filled the role of a "castle church" and is now colloquially known as the "Schlosskirche". The church was designed by a Franciscan builder named Minder, the construction was led by the Count's Inspector Peter Reheis.
Further north on the "Han" is the pilgrimage monastery of Blieskastel, supervised since 2005 by the
Franciscan
The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...
Minorites.
In the
Holy Cross Chapel at the pilgrimage monastery there is, since 1827, a baroque painting of "Our Lady with the Arrows", which was transferred in 1786 from Gräfinthal to Blieskastel. This image is a unique 14th-century
pietà
The Pietà (; meaning "pity", "compassion") is a subject in Christian art depicting the Mary (mother of Jesus), Blessed Virgin Mary cradling the mortal body of Jesus Christ after his Descent from the Cross. It is most often found in sculpture. ...
(vesper image), in which there are five iron medieval arrowheads. According to legend the arrows were shot in by sinners. The chapel, in which a
relic
In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains or personal effects of a saint or other person preserved for the purpose of veneration as a tangible memorial. Reli ...
of the
True Cross
According to Christian tradition, the True Cross is the real instrument of Jesus' crucifixion, cross on which Jesus of Nazareth was Crucifixion of Jesus, crucified.
It is related by numerous historical accounts and Christian mythology, legends ...
was originally venerated, dates from 1682/83.
On a southern hill is a neo-baroque Protestant church built in 1912.
The landmark of the city is the 4000 year old Gollenstein, which is considered to be the largest
menhir
A menhir (; from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large upright stone, emplaced in the ground by humans, typically dating from the European middle Br ...
in Central Europe at . It stands on the ridge at Blieskastel.
Twin towns – sister cities
Blieskastel is
twinned with:
*
Le Creusot
Le Creusot () is a Communes of France, commune and industrial town in the Saône-et-Loire Departments of France, department, Regions of France, region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, eastern France.
The inhabitants are known as Creusotins. Formerl ...
, France (1989)
*
Castellabate, Italy (2008)
Notable people
*
Andreas Öchsner (born 1970), professor, head of discipline, in mechanical engineering at
Griffith University
Griffith University is a public university, public research university in South East Queensland on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of Australia. The university was founded in 1971, but was not officially opened until 1975. Griffith ...
*
David Oppenheimer (1834–1897), entrepreneur and mayor of
Vancouver
Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...
*
Joseph Wendel (1901–1960), archbishop and cardinal
References
External links
{{Authority control
Saarpfalz-Kreis
Palatinate (region)