Bouzonville | |
|---|---|
.JPG) Bouzonville, Buildings of the former Abbey of Sainte Croix upon the Nied | |
 Flag .svg) Coat of arms | |
 Location of Bouzonville | |
  Bouzonville  Bouzonville | |
| Coordinates:49°17′33″N6°32′06″E / 49.2925°N 6.535°E /49.2925; 6.535 | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Grand Est |
| Department | Moselle |
| Arrondissement | Forbach-Boulay-Moselle |
| Canton | Bouzonville |
| Intercommunality | Bouzonvillois-Trois Frontières |
| Government | |
| • Mayor(2020–2026) | Armel Chabane[1] |
Area 1 | 13.9 km2 (5.4 sq mi) |
| Population (2022)[2] | 3,824 |
| • Density | 275/km2 (713/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 57106 /57320 |
| Elevation | 192–310 m (630–1,017 ft) (avg. 190 m or 620 ft) |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
Bouzonville (French pronunciation:[buzɔ̃vil];German:Busendorf;Lorraine Franconian:Busendroff) is acommune in theMoselledepartment inGrand Est in northeasternFrance.
The localities ofAidling,Benting andHeckling are incorporated in the commune.It lies 35 km (22 mi) fromMetz and the same distance fromThionville.
Built on the "salt road" between theRhine and theMoselle, at the site of an easy ford of theNied, the site's traces of CelticLa Tène culture are most vividly represented by the "Bouzonville flagon", in whichScythian influence onCeltic craftsmenship is clearly represented in the animal that forms its handle and in the nature of coral inlays, with enamels of similar colour supplementing it, that form bands around the base and rim of the high-shouldered vessel; the beak-flagon was among a group of bronze objects from Bouzonville acquired by theBritish Museum in 1928.[3] A minor Romanvicus represented by tiles that the plough turns up, complements the few signs of prehistory, though essentially pre-historic is the muteMerovingian necropolis of more than a hundred graves, holding twice as many women as men, 0.5 km (0.31 mi) east of the town; there is no trace of their habitations, which apparently supplied thevilla attached to the-villetoponym. There is no agreement on the identity of the other element, apparently of one of the numerous Frankish magnates named Boso.[4]
The village owes its real origins to the abbey founded here in 1033 by Adalbert, count of Metz and Juditha his wife;[citation needed] he was the grandfather ofGebhard, Duke of Lorraine, the first hereditaryduke of Lorraine.Migne[5] listsBosonis Villa [de] S. Crucis S. Mariae, monast. ord. S. Bened. ann. 1033 a Juditha Adalberti comitio uxore...[6] TheBosonis villa with its dependencies, is mentioned in a privilege granted to Galberga, abbess of Juviniacensis byPope Urban II in 1096.[7] The church of the BenedictineAbbey de Sainte-Croix de Bouzonville serves today as the parish church. In the thirteenth century the dukes of Lorraine established a court of justice here, which increased the life of the town, which depended on the abbey, which was rebuilt on its eleventh-century foundations. The Abbey of Bouzonville remained very much in the gift of the dukes of Lorraine, who were in the habit of bestowing the post of abbotin commendam on their relations to the end of the seventeenth century.[8]
The town suffered so severely during theThirty Years War that at the end of the seventeenth century Bouzonville numbered few more than two dozen hearths. Anhôtel de ville, built in 1719 and enlarged in 1763 was symptomatic of the town's revival, as was a Jewish community, noted in 1726. The abbey was suppressed at the Revolution, the monks dispersed and the library sold. Tanneries and spinning mills developed the town's economy in the nineteenth century. The convent's buildings were restored sufficiently in 1893 to shelter a hospice. The First World War spared Bouzonville, but heavy fighting in the Second World War destroyed the bridge and 139 houses. More recently, Bouzonville has undergone a drain of its labour forces to German industry inSaarland.[9]
| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
|---|---|---|
| 1968 | 3,763 | — |
| 1975 | 4,232 | +1.69% |
| 1982 | 4,285 | +0.18% |
| 1990 | 4,148 | −0.41% |
| 1999 | 4,117 | −0.08% |
| 2007 | 4,178 | +0.18% |
| 2012 | 4,033 | −0.70% |
| 2017 | 3,947 | −0.43% |
| Source: INSEE[10] | ||
Bouzonville station is served by the Nied Valley Railway (Niedtalbahn) and, until 1945, saw regular passenger services ran toDillingen (Saar) andMetz. Today, the station is only served once a year onGood Friday with service from across the German border.
The renowned organ-buildersJean-Baptiste Stoltz andGeorges Wenner were both born in Bouzonville in 1813 and 1819.
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