Saarbrücken City Map Poster

About Saarbrücken

The most famous person born in Saarbrücken was the 16th-century philosopher and mathematician René Descartes. In 1806, the city of Saarbrücken had a population of 8,936; 4,478 were Catholics and 4,458 were Protestants. In addition to coal mining (in 1911), industry included mechanical engineering (including locomotives built by Hanomag); iron foundries; sugar refining; cement works; breweries and brickyards. The first historical reference to a settlement near modern Saarbrücken is from 1086 when a Benedictine monastery was founded on St Arnual's Hill (), later called "St Johanner Berg" (). From about 1235 an Augustinian abbey was established at another hill in the present city district of Völklingen which became known as "Malstatt".