Halberg Castle

On the summit of the Halberg, the baroque pleasure palace "Monplaisir" was built by Count Ludwig Kraft von Nassau-Saarbrücken between 1709 and 1711 (with the motto: "Je veux que mon plaisir soit le plaisir de tous"). The then unwooded Halberg offered a beautiful view of the Saar cities. In 1755, the complex was enlarged and redesigned by Friedrich Joachim Stengel, creating a princely game park and a vineyard. During an expansion in 1772, the Mithras sanctuary was also integrated into the garden landscape. Princess Wilhelmine, whose marriage to Prince Ludwig von Nassau-Saarbrücken was troubled, chose the castle as her refuge and raised her son, Hereditary Prince Heinrich von Nassau-Saarbrücken, there. The complex was completely destroyed on November 17, 1793, during the turmoil of the Coalition Wars. The exiled Prince Heinrich, who died in exile, stipulated in his will that he wished to be buried at the site of his happy childhood, a wish that was fulfilled in 1976.

From 1875, the wealthy mining entrepreneur Carl Ferdinand Stumm (ennobled in 1888 as Freiherr von Stumm-Halberg) acquired the site and had a neo-Gothic castle built there between 1877 and 1880, in competition with his brothers, who also built magnificent castles, according to designs by the Hanoverian architect Edwin Oppler. The surrounding landscape park was redesigned by the Frankfurt garden architect Heinrich Siesmayer. In 1892, Emperor Wilhelm II stayed at Halberg Castle as a guest of Freiherr von Stumm-Halberg.

20th Century

In 1936, there were plans to demolish the castle for a residential area, but these were not carried out. In 1939, the new Reichssender Saarbrücken moved into the complex. From 1948 to 1952, the French Governor-General Gilbert Grandval resided in the castle before moving into the new building of the French Embassy on the banks of the Saar in Saarbrücken (today's Ministry of Education and Culture). During this time, unfortunately, massive interventions were made in the historicist magnificent building, which was further damaged by a fire in 1958.

Since 1959, the Halberg has been the headquarters of Saarländischer Rundfunk, with Halberg Castle (in addition to a restaurant) housing the directorate of the SR. The associated Funkhaus Halberg, the television building, and the other SR buildings were built in 1958/1959 in the immediate vicinity next to the castle, with some of the old castle's outbuildings being demolished. The park is now a parking lot. The studio complex also includes an 84-meter-high guyed steel mast. Furthermore, since 2006, the Institute for European Media Law e.V. (EMR) has been located on the Halberg.