Greater Region
Encyclopedia
The Greater Region is a term used to describe the area of Saarland
Saarland
Saarland is one of the sixteen states of Germany. The capital is Saarbrücken. It has an area of 2570 km² and 1,045,000 inhabitants. In both area and population, it is the smallest state in Germany other than the city-states...

, Lorraine
Lorraine (région)
Lorraine is one of the 27 régions of France. The administrative region has two cities of equal importance, Metz and Nancy. Metz is considered to be the official capital since that is where the regional parliament is situated...

, Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...

, Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....

, Wallonia, the French Community of Belgium
French Community of Belgium
The French Community of Belgium is one of the three official communities in Belgium along with the Flemish Community and the German speaking Community. Although its name could suggest that it is a community of French citizens in Belgium, it is not...

 and the German-speaking Community of Belgium
German-speaking Community of Belgium
The German-speaking Community of Belgium is one of the three federal communities of Belgium. Covering an area of 854 km² within the province of Liège in Wallonia, it includes nine of the eleven municipalities of the so-called East Cantons...

. It is not identical with the SaarLorLux
SaarLorLux
SaarLorLux or Saar-Lor-Lux, , a portmanteau of Saarland, Lorraine, Luxembourg, is a Euroregion of five different regional authorities located in four different European states. The term has also been applied to cooperations of several of these authorities or of their subdivisions, administrations,...

 Euregio
EUREGIO
EUREGIO is a cross-border region between the Netherlands and Germany. It was founded in 1958 and is organized as an Eingetragener Verein. Participating communities are in Niedersachsen and Nordrhein-Westfalen in Germany and parts of the Dutch provinces Gelderland, Overijssel and Drenthe...

, being in the same territory.

It is situated between the Rhine, Moselle
Moselle
Moselle is a department in the east of France named after the river Moselle.- History :Moselle is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...

, Saar and Meuse
Meuse
Meuse is a department in northeast France, named after the River Meuse.-History:Meuse is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...

 rivers, has an overall area of 65,401 km². Its population counts 11.2 million inhabitants, representing 2.5% of the total population of the 27-state European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

, and accounting for the same proportion of the EU GDP.

The Greater Region, is divided between Romance
Romance languages
The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...

 and Germanic
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...

 languages and also forms the hub
Transportation hub
A transport hub is a place where passengers and cargo are exchanged between vehicles or between transport modes. Public transport hubs include train stations, rapid transit stations, bus stops, tram stop, airports and ferry slips. Freight hubs include classification yards, seaports and truck...

 for transport in Europe
Transport in Europe
Transport in Europe provides for the movement needs of over 700 million people and associated freight. The political geography of Europe divides the continent into over 50 sovereign states and territories...

. It has an urban, rural (Ardennes
Ardennes
The Ardennes is a region of extensive forests, rolling hills and ridges formed within the Givetian Ardennes mountain range, primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, but stretching into France , and geologically into the Eifel...

-Eifel
Eifel
The Eifel is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the south of the German-speaking Community of Belgium....

-Rheinhessen
Rheinhessen
Rhenish Hesse refers to the part of the former Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt located west of the Rhine river and now part of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is a hilly countryside largely devoted to vineyards, therefore it is also called the "land of the thousand hills." Its larger towns include:...

) and industrial fabric
Fabric
A fabric is a textile material, short for "textile fabric".Fabric may also refer to:*Fabric , the spatial and geometric configuration of elements within a rock*Fabric , a nightclub in London, England...

 which is the source of rich and ongoing economic and cultural relations.

Geography

The size of the Greater Region is more than 400 km from East to West and more than 350 km from North to South.

"11.2 Millions of people live in the Greater Region; this is corresponding to 3% of the total population of the 15 European Union member states. In the same dimension the Greater Region contributes to the gross domestic product
Gross domestic product
Gross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living....

 of the community. (...) All four member states are faced with economic challenges, being subject to changes in their industrial and mining industries. So they create a certain syndicate to cope with these problems, like the "European Development Pool of the sectors Longwy
Longwy
Longwy is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France.The inhabitants are known as Longoviciens.-Economy:Longwy has historically been an industrial center of the Lorraine iron mining district. The town is known for its artistic glazed pottery.-History:Longwy initially...

 (France), Rodange
Rodange
Rodange is a town in the commune of Pétange, in south-western Luxembourg. It lies next to the border with Belgium, across which is the town of Athus. The town is to the south-west of the town of Pétange and to the west of the smaller town of Lamadelaine...

 (Luxembourg), Athus
Athus
Athus is a town in the Aubange municipality of the province of Luxembourg, in south-eastern Belgium. It is located in the far south of the country, near the borders with France and Luxembourg...

 (Belgium)".

European Capital of Culture

In 2007 Luxembourg and the Greater Region, together with city of Sibiu
Sibiu
Sibiu is a city in Transylvania, Romania with a population of 154,548. Located some 282 km north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Cibin River, a tributary of the river Olt...

, Romania, were designated by the European Union for a period of one year to be the European Capital of Culture
European Capital of Culture
The European Capital of Culture is a city designated by theEuropean Union for a period of one calendar year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong European dimension....

, during which they were given a chance to showcase their cultural
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...

 life and cultural development.

Museums and temporary exhibitions

In the Greater Region more than 1,200 museums and other institutions present and conserve the heritage of this core European region.

History

The history of the Greater Region and its subdivisions is a mirror of the History of Europe
History of Europe
History of Europe describes the history of humans inhabiting the European continent since it was first populated in prehistoric times to present, with the first human settlement between 45,000 and 25,000 BC.-Overview:...

 starting from the prehistory up to the current European history. Outstanding testimonials of all European eras can be retrieved in the area of the Greater Region. Due to the Romanization
Romanization
In linguistics, romanization or latinization is the representation of a written word or spoken speech with the Roman script, or a system for doing so, where the original word or language uses a different writing system . Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written...

 during ancient Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 times and the invasion of the Germanic people
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...

 during the Late Antiquity
Late Antiquity
Late Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world. Precise boundaries for the period are a matter of debate, but noted historian of the period Peter Brown proposed...

, the Greater Region became a threshold region up today. Hence the cultural, historical, political, economical and social inhomogeneities shape the region and its inhabitants until today. Several wars, like the Four Lords' War, and foremost World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 with the Battle of Verdun
Battle of Verdun
The Battle of Verdun was one of the major battles during the First World War on the Western Front. It was fought between the German and French armies, from 21 February – 18 December 1916, on hilly terrain north of the city of Verdun-sur-Meuse in north-eastern France...

 and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 with the Battle of the Bulge
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was a major German offensive , launched toward the end of World War II through the densely forested Ardennes mountain region of Wallonia in Belgium, hence its French name , and France and...

, the Maginot Line
Maginot Line
The Maginot Line , named after the French Minister of War André Maginot, was a line of concrete fortifications, tank obstacles, artillery casemates, machine gun posts, and other defences, which France constructed along its borders with Germany and Italy, in light of its experience in World War I,...

 and the Siegfried Line
Siegfried Line
The original Siegfried line was a line of defensive forts and tank defences built by Germany as a section of the Hindenburg Line 1916–1917 in northern France during World War I...

 devastated the region. Today, peaceful forms of coexistence, like the numerous cross-border commuters, may be seen.

Tourism

The Greater Region contains many interesting tourist destinations. In general, they can be reached in day trips from any starting point within the Greater Region. The following are the major tourist destinations in the area:
  • Sarreguemines
    Sarreguemines
    Sarreguemines is a commune in the Moselle department in Lorraine in north-eastern France.It is the seat of an arrondissement.-Geography:...

     (France), with the famous Faïencerie (earthenware factory)
  • Saverne
    Saverne
    Saverne is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France. It is situated on the Rhine-Marne canal at the foot of a pass over the Vosges Mountains, and 45 km N.W...

     (France), with the Saint-Louis-Arzviller inclined plane
    Saint-Louis-Arzviller inclined plane
    The Saint-Louis-Arzviller inclined plane is part of the Marne-Rhine Canal , located in the commune of Saint-Louis, between the towns of Saint-Louis and Arzviller in the département of the Moselle. It enables the canal to cross the Vosges Mountains....

  • Bitche
    Bitche
    Bitche is a commune in the Moselle department in Lorraine in north-eastern France.It is known for its large citadel. The surrounding territory is known as le Pays de Bitche in French and Bitscherland in German.-Geography:...

     (France), one of Vauban’s garrison towns with a large citadel
    Citadel
    A citadel is a fortress for protecting a town, sometimes incorporating a castle. The term derives from the same Latin root as the word "city", civis, meaning citizen....

    ; one of the largest underground artillery works of the Maginot Line
    Maginot Line
    The Maginot Line , named after the French Minister of War André Maginot, was a line of concrete fortifications, tank obstacles, artillery casemates, machine gun posts, and other defences, which France constructed along its borders with Germany and Italy, in light of its experience in World War I,...

     (Fort Simserhof
    Ouvrage Simserhof
    Ouvrage Simserhof is a gros ouvrage of the Maginot Line, located near the community of Sierstal in the French département of Moselle. Simserhof is adjoined by petit ouvrage Rohrbach and gros ouvrage Schiesseck, and faces the German frontier. Located 4 km to the west of Bitche, the ouvrage...

    ), can be visited
  • Metz
    Metz
    Metz is a city in the northeast of France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers.Metz is the capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. Located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany, and Luxembourg, Metz forms a central place...

     (France), capital of the Lorraine
    Lorraine (région)
    Lorraine is one of the 27 régions of France. The administrative region has two cities of equal importance, Metz and Nancy. Metz is considered to be the official capital since that is where the regional parliament is situated...

     region with the high Gothic
    Gothic architecture
    Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

     Metz Cathedral
    Metz Cathedral
    Saint Étienne de Metz , also known as Metz Cathedral) is a Gothic, Catholic cathedral in the city of Metz, capital of Lorraine, France...

     (with windows of Hermann von Münster
    Hermann von Münster
    Hermann von Münster was a German master glassmaker, native of Münster, in Westphalia, and active in Lorraine.- Biography :...

     and Marc Chagall
    Marc Chagall
    Marc Chagall Art critic Robert Hughes referred to Chagall as "the quintessential Jewish artist of the twentieth century."According to art historian Michael J...

    ) and the new branch of the Centre Pompidou-Metz
  • Nancy (France), Art Nouveau
    Art Nouveau
    Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...

     city with Place Stanislas
    Place Stanislas
    The Place Stanislas, known colloquially as the place Stan, is a large pedestrianized square in Nancy, Lorraine, France. Since 1983, the architectural ensemble comprising the Place Stanislas and the extension of its axis, the Place de la Carrière and Place d'Alliance, has been on the list of UNESCO...

     (UNESCO
    UNESCO
    The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

     World Heritage Sites)
  • Saarbrücken
    Saarbrücken
    Saarbrücken is the capital of the state of Saarland in Germany. The city is situated at the heart of a metropolitan area that borders on the west on Dillingen and to the north-east on Neunkirchen, where most of the people of the Saarland live....

    , capital of the German state of Saarland
    Saarland
    Saarland is one of the sixteen states of Germany. The capital is Saarbrücken. It has an area of 2570 km² and 1,045,000 inhabitants. In both area and population, it is the smallest state in Germany other than the city-states...

    , with the baroque Ludwigskirche
    Ludwigskirche
    Ludwigskirche in Old Saarbrücken, Germany, is a Protestant baroque style church. It is the symbol of the city and is considered to be one of the most important Protestant churches in Germany, along with the Dresden Frauenkirche and the St...

    , which is the burial location of Elisabeth of Lorraine
  • Völklingen
    Völklingen
    Völklingen is a town in the district of Saarbrücken, in Saarland, Germany. It is situated near the border with France, on the river Saar, approx. 10 km west of Saarbrücken....

     (Saarland), the Völklingen Ironworks (UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site)
  • Trier
    Trier
    Trier, historically called in English Treves is a city in Germany on the banks of the Moselle. It is the oldest city in Germany, founded in or before 16 BC....

     (Rhineland-Palatinate), ancient Roman city with many Roman monuments, the most famous of which is Porta Nigra
    Porta Nigra
    The Porta Nigra is a large Roman city gate in Trier, Germany. It is today the largest Roman city gate north of the Alps and has been designated a World Heritage Site....

  • Mainz
    Mainz
    Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...

     (capital of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate), founded by the Romans as a military post; has the Mainz Cathedral
    Mainz Cathedral
    Mainz Cathedral or St. Martin's Cathedral is located near the historical center and pedestrianized market square of the city of Mainz, Germany...

     and Gutenberg Museum
    Gutenberg Museum
    The Gutenberg Museum is one of the oldest museums of printing in the world, located opposite the cathedral in the old part of Mainz, Germany. It is named after Johann Gutenberg, the inventor of printing from moveable metal type...

  • Luxembourg
    Luxembourg (city)
    The city of Luxembourg , also known as Luxembourg City , is a commune with city status, and the capital of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is located at the confluence of the Alzette and Pétrusse Rivers in southern Luxembourg...

     (capital of Luxembourg), with medieval fortifications and Grand Ducal Palace
    Grand Ducal Palace, Luxembourg
    The Grand Ducal Palace is a palace in Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg. It is the official residence of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and where he performs most of his duties as head of state of the Grand Duchy.-History:...

  • Liège
    Liège
    Liège is a major city and municipality of Belgium located in the province of Liège, of which it is the economic capital, in Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium....

     (Belgium
    Belgium
    Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

    ) cultural center of the Wallonia with the palace of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège and Baroque
    Baroque
    The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

     Town Hall

Interreg program

The Greater Region is supported by Interreg III, a Community initiative which aims to stimulate interregional cooperation in the EU between 2000-06. It is financed under the European Regional Development Fund
European Regional Development Fund
The European Regional Development Fund is a fund allocated by the European Union.-History:During the 1960s, the European Commission occasionally tried to establish a regional fund. Only Italy ever supported this, however, and nothing came of it. Britain made it an issue for their accession in...

 (ERDF).

This phase of the Interreg initiative is designed to strengthen economic and social cohesion throughout the EU, by fostering the balanced development of the continent through cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation.

The current INTERREG IV A Greater Region
INTERREG IV A Greater Region
The Grande Région or Grossregion programme lies within the Interreg IV A programme of the European Union's European Regional Development Fund...

(Grande Région) programme (period 2007 - 2013) has been elaborated to enforce the cooperation between the project partners from the different parts of the Greater Region.
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