Merzig is a historic town known for the only Romanesque church in the Saarland region and the remarkable Wolf Park created by animal researcher and traveler Werner Freund.
The city was founded in the 9th century, but already in Roman times there were several forts and villas in the area. A reminder of the oldest history of these areas is the Roman Villa Borg Archaeological Park, where the appearance of the settlement from the 4th century AD was reconstructed
In the Middle Ages, the city was an important trade and craft center. Its oldest monument is the Romanesque church of St. Peter, built at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries. Its interiors were thoroughly rebuilt in the 17th century in the baroque style.
The city center is built up with tenement houses mainly in the Baroque style. There are also numerous chapels from different eras and the late Renaissance town hall, which in the past was a hunting castle of the Reich electors. On the outskirts of the city, you can visit Castle Fellenberg, which is now a museum and is surrounded by gardens. In its vicinity, there is the Fellenberg Mill Museum with the preserved equipment of the 19th-century plant.
Merzig's biggest attraction is the Werner Freund Wolf Park. Several dozen wolves from different parts of Europe live here, and the entire park was created by a behaviorist and researcher of these animals' behavior. In the center of Merzig there is also the Werner Freund Expedition Museum, which showcases his natural and ethnographic collections from trips around the world. The family attraction of the city is Maisalm, a park of labyrinths made of corn and other plants.
