Germany · Saarland, Ludwigskirche

Saarland has historically been strongly shaped by its location on the border with France. Coal mining and the steel industry long determined its economic development. After the First World War, the Saar Territory (Saargebiet) was placed under the administration of the League of Nations (Völkerbund) for fifteen years; the coal mines passed into French ownership. In a referendum in 1935, a large majority voted in favor of reintegration into the German Reich. After the Second World War, the territory once again received a special political status and was closely linked to France economically. A European Saar Statute was rejected in a referendum in 1955. On 1 January 1957, Saarland joined the Federal Republic of Germany; economic integration followed in 1959.

Ludwigskirche is a Protestant Baroque church on Ludwigsplatz in Saarbrücken. It was designed by the architect Friedrich Joachim Stengel, who helped shape the townscape of the former residence city of Saarbrücken. The foundation stone was laid in 1762 under Fürst Wilhelm Heinrich von Nassau-Saarbrücken. The church was completed and consecrated in 1775 during the reign of his son Ludwig, after whom it is named. It formed part of a uniformly planned square complex with surrounding palaces and officials’ houses. During the Second World War, the church was largely destroyed in an air raid. The subsequent reconstruction gradually followed its Baroque design.

The issue belongs to the German 2-euro series “Bundesländer”, which began in 2006. In this series, one federal state was presented each year with a building or landmark. The order was generally based on the rotating presidency of the Länder in the Bundesrat. Saarland held this presidency from November 2008 to October 2009. This explains the selection of the state for the 2009 issue. Ludwigskirche was suitable as a motif because it is closely linked to the history of Saarbrücken as a princely residence city and can be classified as a clearly recognizable architectural monument of the state.