Esch-sur-Alzette

Esch-sur-Alzette Esch-Uelzecht
Commune
The city seen from the Gaalgebierg parc The city seen from the Gaalgebierg parc
Coat of arms
Map of Luxembourg with Esch-sur-Alzette highlighted in orange, the district in dark grey, and the canton in dark red Map of Luxembourg with Esch-sur-Alzette highlighted in orange, the district in dark grey, and the canton in dark red
Coordinates:
Country	Luxembourg
District	Luxembourg
Canton	Esch-sur-Alzette
Government
• Mayor	Vera Spautz
Area
• Total	14.35 km2 (5.54 sq mi)
Area rank	84 of 105
Highest elevation	426 m (1,398 ft)
• Rank	32nd of 105
Lowest elevation	279 m (915 ft)
• Rank	87th of 105
Population (2014)
• Total	32,600
• Rank	2nd of 105
• Density	2,300/km2 (5,900/sq mi)
• Density rank	1st of 105
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
LAU 2	LU00010004
Website	esch.lu

Esch-sur-Alzette (Luxembourgish: Esch-Uelzecht, German: Esch-an-der-Alzette or Esch-an-der-Alzig, French: Esch-sur-Alzette) is a commune with city status in south-western Luxembourg. It is the country's second city, and its second-most populous commune, with a population of 33,286 inhabitants. It lies in the south-west of the country, on the border with France. The town is usually referred to just as Esch, but there is also a village and commune further north named Esch-sur-Sûre from which to distinguish it. It lies in the valley of the Alzette, which flows through the town. The capital, Luxembourg City, is roughly 15 km (9.3 mi) to the north-east.

History

For a long time Esch was a small farming village in the valley of the Uelzecht river. This changed when important amounts of iron ore were found in the area in the 1850s. With the development of the mines and the steel industry the town's population multiplied tenfold in a couple of decades. In 1911 the steel and iron producing company ARBED was founded. and the development of the steel industry, especially in the south of the country, provided Luxembourg with sustained economic growth during the second half of the 19th century.

In the 1970s as a result of the steel crisis the mines and many of the blast furnaces were shut down, the last one, in Esch-Belval, definitely halting its operations in 1997. The blast furnaces were replaced by an electric furnace that is fed with scrap metal rather than iron ore.

Today the industrial wastelands on Belval left behind by the steel industry, are being redeveloped and converted into a new, modern city quarter. New cultural buildings such as the cinema Utopolis Belval and the Rockhal, Luxemburg’s biggest concert hall, schools, flats and Belval Plaza, a shopping centre, have been built in the last years.

The area around the old blast furnaces will host different structures of the University of Luxembourg, many research centres and the national archives. Two of the University's three faculties will relocate there: The Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Education Sciences will first do so in summer 2014, followed by the Faculty of Sciences, Technology and Communication in 2015 and 2016.

Places of interest

File:EscherStadhaus08.JPG

The city hall

Esch-sur-Alzette is home to the National Museum of the Resistance, which has material related to the resistance to German occupation during the Second World War. Lucien Wercollier's sculpture The Political Prisoner is in its entrance hall. Other tourist attractions include the large park, and the Berwart Tower, built in 1621.

The Lankelz miniature railway operates on Sunday afternoons and public holidays from May to mid-October.

Esch is home to the Conservatoire de Musique. Founded as a school of music in 1926, it achieved Conservatoire status in 1969.

There are two cinemas in the centre of the city, called the 'Ariston' and the 'Kinosch' and a third one called 'Utopolis Belval' is situated in the former industrial wastelands Belval. The main theatre is the Théâtre d’Esch. There is also the Kulturfabrik, a cultural centre in a reconverted abattoir which hosts performances of various kinds. The town is the site of one of the six regional headquarters of the Grand Ducal Police.

The city has the longest shopping street in Luxembourg.

The city is the centre of the country's steel manufacture. One of the largest employers in the town is Arcelor, the world's largest steel producer, which formed from the merger of Aceralia, ARBED, Mittal, and Usinor.

Sport

Esch is in the heart of the traditional footballing heartland of the south of the country, and the town was the first place in the country to embrace the game. The first two football clubs in the country, CS Fola Esch (founded in 1906) and Jeunesse Esch (1907), both come from the town. Jeunesse have been the most successful Luxembourgian club, winning an unrivalled twenty-seven National Division titles; combined with twelve Luxembourg Cup victories, Jeunesse have won eight Doubles. They play at Stade de la Frontière, in the south of the town. Fola were very important in the early history of the sport in Luxembourg, winning five titles up to 1930, but have since declined, currently playing in the second-tier Division of Honour. Fola's home stadium is Stade Émile Mayrisch, in the south-east of Esch, which it shares with its sister athletics club CA Fola Esch.

At the 2006 Tour de France, Esch-sur-Alzette hosted the end of Stage 2 and the start of Stage 3.

Transport

Sign at Esch-sur-Alzette railway station.

Esch-sur-Alzette is the southern terminus of the A4 motorway, which runs northwards to Luxembourg City. The east-west A13 meets the A4 just to the north of Esch, and terminates at Pétange in the west and meets the German Bundesautobahn 8 at its eastern end.

Esch is one of four Luxembourgian towns to have multiple railway stations. Esch's three railway stations, Esch-sur-Alzette, Belval-Rédange, and Belval-Université, all lie on Line 60 of the Chemins de fer luxembourgeois network.

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Luxembourg

Twin towns — Sister cities

Esch-sur-Alzette is twinned with:

Coimbra, Portugal Cologne, Germany Liège, Belgium Lille, France

Mödling, Austria Offenbach am Main, Germany Puteaux, France Rotterdam, Netherlands

Turin, Italy Velletri, Italy Zemun, Serbia

External links

• (French) Official website of the city of Esch-sur-Alzette
• A large private collection of pictures of the city and its surroundings — articles in German, French and Luxembourgish
• HoloGuides : Esch/Alzette - photos, events, etc.
• FEATS Newsletter, December 1999 - discusses quite a few matters relating to Esch