Longwy

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Longwy
Longwy Coat of Arms
Longwy (France)
Longwy
region Grand Est
Department Meurthe-et-Moselle
Arrondissement Briey
Canton Longwy (main town)
Community association Longwy
Coordinates 49 ° 31 '  N , 5 ° 46'  E Coordinates: 49 ° 31 '  N , 5 ° 46'  E
height 250-396 m
surface 5.34 km 2
Residents 14,378 (January 1, 2017)
Population density 2,693 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code 54400
INSEE code 54323
Website www.mairie-longwy.fr

Cityscape

Template: Infobox municipality in France / maintenance / different coat of arms in Wikidata

Longwy ( German  Langich ) is a French town with 14,378 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2017) in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in the Grand Est region (until 2015 Lorraine ). The city belongs to the Arrondissement of Briey and is the capital of the canton of the same name . The inhabitants of Longwy are called Longoviciens .

location

Longwy is an industrial town near the border with Belgium ( Aubange ) and Luxembourg ( Pétange , Differdange ). Longwy has two districts: the fortified upper town ( Longwy-Haut ) lies on a larger elevation at an altitude of about 365 meters above sea level. d. M., the lower town ( Longwy-Bas ) with a thermal bath is about 60 meters below the river Chiers , a tributary of the Meuse . Larger cities in the area are Esch an der Alzette (approx. 20 kilometers east), Arlon (approx. 20 kilometers north), Sedan (approx. 80 kilometers northwest), Bastogne (approx. 60 kilometers north), Luxembourg (approx. 35 Kilometers northeast) and Metz (approx. 65 kilometers southeast).

Population development

year 1962 1968 1975 1982 1990 1999 2006 2014
Residents 21,929 21,076 20,131 17,338 15,439 14,521 14,346 14,293

In the 19th century, Longwy's population grew from around 2,000 to over 9,000; the city had the highest population of around 22,000 in the 1960s. The cross-border industrial region around Longwy (23 municipalities in Lorraine, Belgium and Luxembourg) today has around 120,000 inhabitants. However, since the 1970s, the population of the city and the entire region has declined sharply, due to the decline of heavy industry.

economy

In the Middle Ages, Longwy was a rather insignificant village like others in the area. Due to its strategic location within the border region of Lorraine, which was disputed between the German Empire and France, it gained political and economic importance in the 17th century. From the middle of the 19th to the 20th century, Longwy developed into the center of French steel production because of the coal and ore deposits in the area. It is also known for its artfully glazed pottery.

history

City map of Longwy in the 18th century
Destroyed Upper Town of Longwy in 1914

Longwy belonged to Lotharingia and - after its division - to Upper Lorraine and finally to the Duchy of Bar . In 1368 the place was given to the Duke of Luxembourg , but came back to the Duke of Bar in 1378. In 1480 the entire Duchy of Bar was incorporated into the Duchy of Lorraine . At the end of the 15th century, the first small iron smelter was established, but production was stopped again in the middle of the 16th century.

After the end of the Thirty Years War , i. H. from 1648 to 1660, Longwy belonged to France, then again to the Duchy of Lorraine. In 1670 the place finally became French, which was sealed by the Treaty of Nijmegen (1678). Louis XIV then had the city fortified by his builder Vauban . During the French Revolution , after a brief siege, the city surrendered without a fight to the troops of the Duke of Braunschweig (23 August 1792); after the cannonade at Valmy (September 20, 1792) it was temporarily and completely evacuated on the instructions of the Prussians in October of the same year.

In 1848 the first blast furnace went into operation in the Lower Town of Longwy. The citadel was captured by German troops shortly after the outbreak of World War I on August 22, 1914, making it the first French fortress to fall into German hands. According to the September program of 1914, Longwy was to be attached to the German Reich because of its ore and coal mining areas. In March 1917, the Reich government agreed to a peace agreement with France if the ore deposit of Brie-Longwy was transferred to the German Reich in exchange for French-speaking parts of Alsace-Lorraine .

In the 1970s and 1980s, especially between 1979 and 1984, the - long-lasting, ultimately futile - labor dispute against the closure of a large steelworks in Longwy attracted international attention.

Attractions

Longwy skin

Fortress moat with bridge and Porte de France
  • The most important sight is the upper town ( Citadelle de Longwy ), fortified by Vauban with walls and ditches, with the trophy-adorned Porte de France and a central parade square ( Place Darche ) with the building of the directorate and a fountain house - surrounded by barracks and other buildings formerly used by the military in the middle; the entire complex and some buildings were recognized as Monuments historiques in the years 1913 to 1933 . The Citadel of Longwy, along with other fortresses across France, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site of the ' Fortifications of Vauban ' since 2008 .
  • Within the fortress are the ruins of a medieval castle that was destroyed in the 17th century on the orders of Louis XIV.
  • The garrison church ( Église Saint-Dagobert ), built in the 17th century, destroyed in the First World War but subsequently rebuilt , has been entered in the list of Monuments historiques since 1921 .
  • In the former bakery in the area of ​​the citadel is the Musée des Emaux et Faïences , which houses over 3000 exhibits on the history of enamel art and the manufacture of faience from the last two hundred years - the oldest exhibit dates from 1804.
Former town hall

Longwy-Bas

  • In the north of the lower town the order of the Franciscan recollects settled in the 17th century and founded a college, which today - after renovations and extensions in the 18th century - serves as a school building.
  • In the lower town stands the former town hall ( Ancienne Hôtel de Ville ), an imposing building with a slightly protruding central projection and a gable adorned with coat of arms from the years 1730 to 1734, which was recognized as a monument historique in 1921 .
  • The Carmelite convent was finally demolished in the 1970s after suffering damage in the First World War. a salvaged portal was brought into the citadel.

Town twinning

Personalities

Web links

Commons : Longwy  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ernst Wilhelm Graf zu Lynar: GERMAN WAR ZIELE 1914-1918 . In: We Discuss . tape 616 . Ullstein, Berlin 1964, p. 47 f . ( google.at [accessed on February 27, 2018]).
  2. ^ Culture server page on the disused Longwy steelworks
  3. ^ Enceinte fortifiée, Longwy in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
  4. ↑ Maison de l'Intendance, Longwy in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
  5. ^ Puits couvert, Longwy in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
  6. ↑ Entry on the website of the UNESCO World Heritage Center ( English and French ).
  7. ↑ Église Saint-Dagobert, Longwy in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
  8. ↑ Hôtel de Ville, Longwy in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)