Like pearls on a string, the SaarPfalz Baroque Route between Saarbrücken, Sulzbach, St. Ingbert and Blieskastel, Hornbach, Zweibrücken, Homburg and Ottweiler, which is important both regionally and nationally, links selected places and locations relating to the 17th and 18th centuries to create a themed cultural tourism route for experiencing, discovering and enjoying. The region is particularly proud of the fact that the young Johann Wolfgang Goethe visited a number of these places in the early summer of 1770 and later even set a literary monument to them in his memoirs "Poetry and Truth". It was not without reason that Goethe was convinced:
"A clever person finds the best education when travelling".
Against this background and thanks to its corresponding activities, the BarockStraße SaarPfalz has been accepted as a new member of the international association "Europäische Goethe-Wege e.V.". "We as the association Europäische Goethe-Wege e.V., and I in particular, are delighted to welcome five new members from three different countries - including the BarockStraße SaarPfalz," says Dr Daniela Stefanie Hauf M.A., the association's managing director. She emphasises that the application for certification of the "European Goethe Routes" as a Council of Europe cultural route is currently pending with a total of 13 participating institutions from five different countries.
In Goethe's native city of Frankfurt am Main, Klaus Friedrich from the Saar-Palatinate Baroque Route working group was presented with the membership certificate in person by Dr Margrit Wyder, President of the Goethe Society Switzerland and former Chairwoman of the European Goethe Trails, and her successor Dr Hannes Höfer, Managing Director of the Goethe Society in Weimar.
"There are many wonderful areas to discover in Goethe's footsteps. If there is also a rich cultural and tourist offer there, such as around the Saar-Palatinate Baroque Route, that is of course an additional benefit," said Dr Höfer, the new chairman of the European Goethe Trails Association, at the award ceremony.
Katrin Thieser, the new managing director of BarockStraße SaarPfalz and acting director of Saarpfalz-Touristik in the Bliesgau biosphere reserve, is also delighted to be included in this Europe-wide network:
"As an important nationwide holiday route with a multi-layered connection to Goethe, we are happy to support this exciting initiative and, as a new member, we are very much looking forward to what is sure to be a stimulating exchange with all the other participants."
"The BarockStraße Saar-Pfalz's membership of the internationally oriented 'European Goethe Routes' association opens up extremely interesting prospects for us," emphasises Klaus Friedrich in this context. "We are proud to have been accepted into this high-calibre interest group and hope to be certified as a cultural route by the Council of Europe."