Pétange
Encyclopedia
Pétange is a commune
Communes of Luxembourg
The communes of Luxembourg are the lowest nation-wide administrative division in Luxembourg. They conform to LAU level 2.Within the hierarchy of administrative subdivisions, communes come directly below cantons, which are directly below districts. Communes are often re-arranged, being merged or...

 and town in south-western 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...

. It is part of the canton of Esch-sur-Alzette
Esch-sur-Alzette (canton)
Esch-sur-Alzette is a canton in the south-west of Luxembourg, in Luxembourg District. The capital is Esch-sur-Alzette.The canton consists of the following 14 communes:*Bettembourg*Differdange*Dudelange*Esch-sur-Alzette*Frisange*Kayl*Leudelange...

, which is part of the district of Luxembourg
Luxembourg (district)
The District of Luxembourg, sometimes of Luxemburg, is one of three districts of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It contains four cantons, divided into 47...

. Pétange lies on the borders with both 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...

 and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

As of 2007, the town of Pétange, which lies in the north of the commune, has a population of 7,399. Other towns within the commune include Lamadelaine
Lamadelaine
Lamadelaine is a town in the commune of Pétange, in south-western Luxembourg. , the town has a population of 2,335....

 and 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...

. The commune is one of the smallest communes of Luxembourg, yet is the fifth-most populous. It is the most-populous commune without city status.

History

The modern settlement of Pétange was first mentioned in 938 by the name 'Perdgitten'. Six centuries later, Pétange had still not acquired much prominence; in 1536, it was home to only about 25 people.

In 1601, the boundary between Luxembourg and the Duchy of Lorraine was definitively demarcated for the first time. The modern commune was divided between the two, with the town of Pétange going to Luxembourg, but the towns of Rodange and Lamadelaine, which are further to the south, lying on the Lorrainian side of the border.

When, in 1795, Luxembourg was annexed into Revolutionary France as part of the département
Départements of France
The departments of France are French administrative divisions. The 101 departments form one of the three levels of local government, together with the 22 metropolitan and 5 overseas regions above them and more than 36 000 communes beneath them...

 of Forêts
Forêts
Forêts was a département of the French First Republic, and later the First French Empire, in present Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. Its name, meaning 'forests', comes from the Ardennes forests. It was formed on 24 October 1795, after the Southern Netherlands had been annexed by France on 1...

, its former territories were reunited, and the commune's territory was established as it is today. However, when Luxembourg passed to the United Kingdom of the Netherlands
United Kingdom of the Netherlands
United Kingdom of the Netherlands is the unofficial name used to refer to Kingdom of the Netherlands during the period after it was first created from part of the First French Empire and before the new kingdom of Belgium split out in 1830...

, after the Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...

, the towns of Rodange and Lamadelaine passed with it.

The town's importance grew greatly in the late nineteenth century, thanks to the booming iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...

-mining and steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...

 industries. The first railway into Pétange was opened in 1873, running to Esch-sur-Alzette
Esch-sur-Alzette
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 29,853 people...

. Further railway lines were added to Ettelbruck
Ettelbruck
Ettelbruck is a commune with city status in central Luxembourg, with a population of approximately 7,500. As of 2005, the town of Ettelbruck itself, which lies in the east of the commune, has a population of 6,191. The town of Warken and Grentzingen are also within the commune...

 (1873) and Luxembourg City (1900).

On 9 September 1944, Pétange became the first commune in the country to be liberated by Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...

 soldiers at the end of the German occupation
German occupation of Luxembourg in World War II
The German occupation of Luxembourg in World War II was the period in the history of Luxembourg after it was used as a transit territory to attack France by outflanking the Maginot Line. Plans for the attack had been prepared by 9 October 1939, but execution was postponed several times...

 in the Second World War
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...

. In remembrance to the first soldier to die in the liberation, a memorial was erected in his honor: Hyman Josefson Square.

Geography

The commune lies in the extreme south-west of Luxembourg, bordering both the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 département
Départements of France
The departments of France are French administrative divisions. The 101 departments form one of the three levels of local government, together with the 22 metropolitan and 5 overseas regions above them and more than 36 000 communes beneath them...

 of Meurthe-et-Moselle
Meurthe-et-Moselle
Meurthe-et-Moselle is a department in the Lorraine region of France, named after the Meurthe and Moselle rivers.- History :Meurthe-et-Moselle was created in 1871 at the end of the Franco-Prussian War from the parts of the former departments of Moselle and Meurthe which remained French...

 and the Belgian
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...

 province
Provinces of Belgium
Belgium is divided into three regions, two of them are subdivided into five provinces each.The division into provinces is fixed by Article 5 of the Belgian Constitution...

 of Luxembourg. The town of Rodange lies just across the border from the Belgian town of Aubange
Aubange
Aubange is a Walloon municipality of Belgium located in the province of Luxembourg....

. Pétange is situated at the west end of the Red Lands
Red Lands
The Red Lands form a geographic region in southern and south-western Luxembourg. They are called this way for their red iron-laden earth.The Red Lands roughly correspond with the southern part of the canton of Esch-sur-Alzette, along the border with France...

: iron-rich sedimentary rocks that form the far south and south-west of Luxembourg. The town lies in the upper reaches of the Chiers
Chiers
The Chiers is a river in Luxembourg, Belgium and France. It is a right tributary to the river Meuse. Its total length is about 130 km.The source of the Chiers is near Differdange, in Luxembourg...

 valley, and is one of the few places in Luxembourg (along with the commune of Differdange
Differdange
Differdange is a commune with city status in south-western Luxembourg. Differdange is an industrial city that was home to much of Luxembourg's steel production, and lies near the borders with Belgium and France...

) to lie outside the drainage system
Drainage system (Geomorphology)
In geomorphology, a drainage system is the pattern formed by the streams, rivers, and lakes in a particular drainage basin. They are governed by the topography of the land, whether a particular region is dominated by hard or soft rocks, and the gradient of the land. Geomorphologists and...

 of the Rhine.

The commune is only 12 km² in area, one of the smallest in Luxembourg, but is the site of three significant towns. The town of Pétange itself has a population of 6,909, but, despite being the seventh-largest town in Grand Duchy, accounts for under half of the population of the commune. 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...

, in the south-west of the commune, is home to 4,505 people, whilst Lamadelaine
Lamadelaine
Lamadelaine is a town in the commune of Pétange, in south-western Luxembourg. , the town has a population of 2,335....

, in the south of the commune, has a population of 2,335.

Attractions

The south of the commune is home to Titelberg
Titelberg
Titelberg is the site of a large Celtic settlement or oppidum in the extreme south west of Luxembourg. In the 1st century BC, this thriving community was probably the capital of the Treveri people...

, a prominent hill on top of which lie the ruins
Ruins
Ruins are the remains of human-made architecture: structures that were once complete, as time went by, have fallen into a state of partial or complete disrepair, due to lack of maintenance or deliberate acts of destruction...

 of a Celt
Celt
The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....

ic oppidum
Oppidum
Oppidum is a Latin word meaning the main settlement in any administrative area of ancient Rome. The word is derived from the earlier Latin ob-pedum, "enclosed space," possibly from the Proto-Indo-European *pedóm-, "occupied space" or "footprint."Julius Caesar described the larger Celtic Iron Age...

. The walled hill fort
Hill fort
A hill fort is a type of earthworks used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze and Iron Ages. Some were used in the post-Roman period...

 was 1 km (0.621372736649807 mi) long. The entire settlement had a total population of 10,000 before the Roman conquest, making it the largest pre-Roman settlement in Luxembourg.

The Fond de Gras
Industry and Railway Park Fond-de-Gras
The Industry and Railway Park Fond-de-Gras is a museum in south west Luxembourg near to the towns of Pétange and Rodange. It is linked to Pétange by a heritage railway operated by AMTF.-External links:* * *...

 heritage railway
Heritage railway
thumb|right|the Historical [[Khyber train safari|Khyber Railway]] goes through the [[Khyber Pass]], [[Pakistan]]A heritage railway , preserved railway , tourist railway , or tourist railroad is a railway that is run as a tourist attraction, in some cases by volunteers, and...

 and museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...

 recreate the conditions of the Red Lands in the year 1900, at the height of their growth and development. Whilst the centre lies just within the commune of Differdange
Differdange
Differdange is a commune with city status in south-western Luxembourg. Differdange is an industrial city that was home to much of Luxembourg's steel production, and lies near the borders with Belgium and France...

, to the east, the two steam locomotives take visitors to the towns of Pétange and Rodange, and provide a stream of tourists to the towns in the summer.

Pétange has a football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 team in Luxembourg's top-flight National Division
Luxembourg National Division
The National Division is the highest football league in Luxembourg. Until 2011, it is to be known as the BGL Ligue, after the Luxembourg Football Federation managed to seal a sponsorship deal with Fortis. Before 2006, it contained twelve teams, but it expanded to fourteen for the 2006-07 season,...

, called CS Pétange
CS Pétange
Club Sportif Pétange is a football club, based in Pétange, in south-western Luxembourg.In the 2007-08 season, Pétange finished fourteenth and last in the National Division and were relegated to the Division of Honour...

. They play their home games at the Stade Municipal
Stade Municipal, Pétange
Stade Municipal is a football stadium in Pétange, in south-western Luxembourg. It is currently the home stadium of CS Pétange. The stadium has a capacity of 2,400.-References:*...

. Despite being one of the oldest Luxembourgian clubs in existence, having been founded in 1910, Pétange have one only one trophy, the Luxembourg Cup
Luxembourg Cup
The Luxembourg Cup is the national knockout cup competition in Luxembourgian football. It was first held in 1922, and has been held annually since, with the exception of the four seasons during the German occupation during Second World War.-Winners:...

in 2004-05.

External links

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