| Summary: | The subject of this essay is the former French Embassy in Saarbrücken, perhaps the most iconic building to represent the idealistic origins and the cultural components of the European Coal and Steel Community. It is situated on the left bank of the Saar River in the city centre. A bi-national team of three architects signed the building plans: the edifice was conceived and erected between 1950 and 1955 by the well-known French architect and urbanist Georges-Henri Pingusson and his two local associates, Bernhard Schultheis and Hans Bert Baur. At this time the Saarland was an independent state with a vocation to unify the states of the Coal and Steel Community, founded in 1950. Pingusson had already come to Saarbrücken in October 1945. He was in charge of the regional development plan for the Saar and the reconstruction and modernisation of Saarbrücken. He arrived with the French military government under Gilbert Grandval, who would later become French ambassador. In Pingusson’s vision, the former bastion would be transformed into a link between countries. He even recommended corresponding development plans for neighbouring Lorraine and Luxemburg. When the ground was prepared for the candidature of Saarbrücken as a capital of the Coal and Steel Community, the building of the new French embassy set the aesthetic and cultural standards at this crossroads of Europe. Today the Saarland belongs to the Federal Republic of Germany, but it is also part of the ‘Greater Region Saarland-Lorraine-Luxemb(o)urg-Rheinland-Pfalz-Wallonie(n)’. Under the auspices of this multinational region, the question of ‘shared’ or ‘sharing’ heritage is highly important. The Saar is no longer a steel and coal producing district, nor are her neighbours, and the French Embassy has lost its original function. Although it is a protected heritage site since 1985, parts of the building are threatened by decay and potential demolition. Valid arguments for its preservation will require fundamental cross-border research and cooperation, ideally in line with the comparative approach promoted long ago at the European University of the Saarland. It is time to practice a pluralistic perspective free from propaganda considerations to enable the rehabilitation not only of this particular building but also the cultural heritage of the entire Greater Region.
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