Athus (, , ) is a part of Aubange city

Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...

and a

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

of the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Aubange Aubange (; ; ; ) is a municipality and city of Wallonia located in the province of Luxembourg, Belgium. On 1 January 2012 the municipality, which covers 45.6 km2, had 16,042 inhabitants, giving a population density of 330.9 inhabitants per ...

, located in the

province of Luxembourg Luxembourg (; ; ; ; ; ), also called Belgian Luxembourg or West Luxembourg, is the southernmost Provinces of regions in Belgium, province of Wallonia within Belgium. It borders the country of Luxembourg to the east, the France, French depart ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. It is located in the far south of the country, just near the borders with France and

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

. It is a French speaking city, though the traditional language is

Luxembourgish Luxembourgish ( ; also ''Luxemburgish'', ''Luxembourgian'', ''Letzebu(e)rgesch''; ) is a West Germanic language that is spoken mainly in Luxembourg. About 400,000 people speak Luxembourgish worldwide. The language is standardized and officiall ...

. The poet and novelist Hubert Juin (1926–1987) was born in Athus. The city was famous during the 19th and 20th century because of its steelworks factory which closed in the 1970s.

Geography

The town is surrounded by two boundaries: the one with France and the other one with Luxembourg. Athus lies at the confluence of the rivers Messancy and

Chiers The Chiers (; , ) is a river in Luxembourg, Belgium and France. It is a right tributary of the Meuse. The total length of the Chiers is approximately , of which in France. The source of the Chiers is near Differdange, in Luxembourg. The Chiers ...

. Directly across the border with Luxembourg is the town of Rodange and the town of

Pétange Pétange (; ; ) is a Communes of Luxembourg, commune and town in south-western Luxembourg. It is part of the Esch-sur-Alzette (canton), canton of Esch-sur-Alzette and is the fifth-most populous commune in Luxembourg, as well as the most populous ...

is to the east. On the French side, the main neighbouring city is

Longwy Longwy (; older , ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, Lorraine, administrative region of Grand Est, northeastern France. The inhabitants are known as ''Longoviciens''. In ...

Meurthe-et-Moselle Meurthe-et-Moselle () is a '' département'' in the Grand Est region of France, named after the rivers Meurthe and Moselle. Its prefecture and largest city is Nancy and it borders the departments of Meuse to the west, Vosges to the south, ...

, over 5 km to the south west. Athus is situated at 200 kilometers from

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, 25 from

Luxembourg City Luxembourg (; ; ), also known as Luxembourg City ( or ; ; or ), is the capital city of Luxembourg and the Communes of Luxembourg, country's most populous commune. Standing at the confluence of the Alzette and Pétrusse rivers in southern Luxe ...

and 15 from

Arlon Arlon (; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Luxembourg (Belgium), province of Luxembourg in the Ardennes, Belgium. With a population of just over 28,000, it ...

History

Athus has always been a Germanic place though its first origins are during the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

period. It was a little village until the 17th century when the

steelworks A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-fini ...

began to develop in the whole region. It was during the 19th century that Athus started to become relatively famous in the neighborhood and especially in 1872 when the first steel factory was founded. At the same time, in 1878, Athus also became an independent commune until the reorganization of the 1970s, when it was merged with the surrounding communes to create the enlarged municipality of

on 1 January 1977. But 1977 was a tragic year for the city because the factory closed its doors due to the iron and steel crisis of that moment. At that time, the city was at the top of its fame and of its number of inhabitants which reached approximately 7,500. That event led to a social and economic crisis for the city and the whole region which is not yet totally solved today. But Athus is still the biggest locality of the municipality of Aubange, and the most important because many services are still there; (the townhall, the main schools, the main bus lines stops and train station, the police station or the firehouse are examples.)

Steelworks

The steelworks in Athus was founded in 1872 as the company ''Société des Hauts Fourneaux d'Athus'', a

blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being supplied above atmospheric pressure. In a ...

was constructed and in 1880 a

. In 1882, the company became ''Société des Hauts Fourneaux et Aciéries d'Athus''; by 1914 there were four blast furnaces, and by 1928 five. In 1927 merger with the '' S.A. des Aciéries d'Angleur et des Charbonnages belges de Tilleu'' formed '' S.A. d´Angleur-Athus''. In 1945 the company was taken over by the '' Société anonyme John Cockerill''. Production continued until the steel works at Athus was merged with the '' Minière et Métallurgique de Rodange'' (MMR) in 1973; restructuring as a result of the Steel crisis of the 1973–75 recession led to the complete closure of the plant in Athus in the late 1970s. The site of the plant is now a rail-served

container terminal A container port, container terminal, or intermodal terminal is a facility where cargo containers are transshipped between different transport vehicles, for onward transportation. The transshipment may be between container ships and land v ...

which deals with containers from the ports of the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

to the interior of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and Belgium.

Demographics

Athus had a population of 7227 inhabitants in January 2012. Colors= id:a value:gray(0.9) id:b value:gray(0.7) id:c value:rgb(1,1,1) id:d value:rgb(0.6,0.7,0.8) ImageSize = width:500 height:300 PlotArea = left:50 bottom:30 top:30 right:30 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:8000 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:b increment:1000 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:a increment:200 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:c BarData= bar:1880 text:1880 bar:1900 text:1900 bar:1920 text:1920 bar:1947 text:1947 bar:1961 text:1961 bar:1970 text:1970 bar:1976 text:1976 bar:1982 text:1982 bar:2000 text:2000 bar:2007 text:2007 bar:2012 text:2012 PlotData= color:d width:20 align:left bar:1880 from:0 till: 1162 bar:1900 from:0 till: 2618 bar:1920 from:0 till: 4046 bar:1947 from:0 till: 5550 bar:1961 from:0 till: 7027 bar:1970 from:0 till: 7445 bar:1976 from:0 till: 7235 bar:1982 from:0 till: 6650 bar:2000 from:0 till: 6788 bar:2007 from:0 till: 6960 bar:2012 from:0 till: 7227 PlotData= bar:1880 at: 1162 fontsize:S text: "1,162" shift:(-13,5) bar:1900 at: 2618 fontsize:S text: "2,618" shift:(-13,5) bar:1920 at: 4046 fontsize:S text: "4,046" shift:(-13,5) bar:1947 at: 5550 fontsize:S text: "5,550" shift:(-13,5) bar:1961 at: 7027 fontsize:S text: "7,027" shift:(-13,5) bar:1970 at: 7445 fontsize:S text: "7,445" shift:(-13,5) bar:1976 at: 7235 fontsize:S text: "7,235" shift:(-13,5) bar:1982 at: 6650 fontsize:S text: "6,650" shift:(-13,5) bar:2000 at: 6788 fontsize:S text: "6,788" shift:(-13,5) bar:2007 at: 6960 fontsize:S text: "6,960" shift:(-13,5) bar:2012 at: 7227 fontsize:S text: "7,227" shift:(-13,5)

Transportation

Athus has a railway station, which connects it to other stations in the Belgian railway network and to those of Luxembourg and France. It is connected hourly to

and

Esch-sur-Alzette Esch-sur-Alzette (, ; ; or ''Esch an der Alzig'') is a city in Luxembourg and the country's List of communes of Luxembourg by population, second-most populous commune, with a population of 36,625 inhabitants, . It lies in the south-west of the ...

for the Luxembourgish part, and also hourly to

, Libramont and

Virton Virton (; Gaumais: ''Viertån''; ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Luxembourg, Belgium. It is also the administrative centre of the district (''arrondissement'') of the same name, as well as the principal town ...

on the Belgian routes. This railway route hosts cargo trains as well as passenger trains and has been operating for a number of years. The city is situated just 10 kilometres south of European highway E 411/E42 between Luxembourg and Brussels.

Culture

Museums

Athus has two museums: * ''Athus et l'acier'' (Athus and Steel), which is about the history of the steelworks and the factory of the city. * ''L'Univers des pompiers'' ( fr) (The Fireman's World), which is about

firemen A firefighter (or fire fighter or fireman) is a first responder trained in specific emergency response such as firefighting, primarily to control and extinguish fires and respond to emergencies such as Dangerous goods, hazardous material incide ...

Religion

Athus is

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, though today there is a very limited number of people who go to church. The church is dedicated to

Saint Stephen Stephen (; ) is traditionally venerated as the protomartyr or first martyr of Christianity."St ...

and was built in 1833.

Pictures

References

External links

* * * * {{Coord, 49, 33, 48, N, 5, 50, 16, E, region:BE_type:city, display=title Articles which contain graphical timelines Belgium–Luxembourg border crossings Former municipalities of Luxembourg (Belgium) Aubange