Esch-sur-Alzette (French pronunciation:[ɛʃsyʁalzɛt],lit.'Esch onAlzette';Luxembourgish:Esch-Uelzecht[ˌæʒˈu̯əltsəɕt]ⓘ;German:Esch an der Alzette[ˈɛʃʔandeːɐ̯ʔalˈzɛt] orEsch an der Alzig) is a university city inLuxembourg and the country'ssecond-most populous commune, with a population of 37,922 inhabitants, as of 2025[update]. It lies in the south-west of the country, on the border with France and in thevalley of theAlzette, which flows through the city. The city is usually referred to as justEsch; however, the full name distinguishes it from the village and commune ofEsch-sur-Sûre which lies 45 kilometres (28 miles) further north. The country's capital,Luxembourg City, is roughly 15 km (9.3 mi) to the north-east.
The town, first mentioned in theMiddle Ages, remained a modest settlement for centuries until the discovery ofiron ore in the 19th century transformed it into one of Luxembourg’s main industrial centres. The rapid expansion of mining and steel production attracted workers from across Europe, shaping Esch into a multicultural urban community. After the decline of the steel industry in the late 20th century, the city underwent structural change.
The town was mentioned for the first time in 12 April 1128 in a message for PopeHonorius II.[1]For a long time Esch was a small farming village in the valley of the Uelzecht river. This changed when important amounts of iron ore were found in the area in the 1850s. With the development of the mines and thesteel industry the town's population multiplied tenfold in a couple of decades. In 1911 the steel- and iron-producing companyARBED was founded.[2] The development of the steel industry, especially in the south of the country, provided Luxembourg with sustained economic growth during the second half of the 19th century.[3]
In the 1970s, as a result of thesteel crisis, the mines and many of the blast furnaces were shut down, the last one, in Esch-Belval, definitively halting its operations in 1997.[3] The blast furnaces were replaced by an electric furnace that is fed with scrap metal rather than iron ore.[4]
Today the industrial wastelands onBelval left behind by the steel industry, are being redeveloped and converted into a new, modern town quarter. New cultural buildings such as the cinema Kinepolis Belval in the Belval Plaza shopping mall[5] and theRockhal, Luxembourg's biggest concert hall have been made.[6]
The area around the old blast furnaces will host different structures of theUniversity of Luxembourg, many research centres and the national archives.[7]
Esch is governed by its communal council, consisting of 19 councillors. Communal elections take place every 6 years, under a system ofproportional representation. Currently the mayor is Christian Weis, of theChristian Social People's Party (CSV). The governing majority on the council consists of the CSV, the DP and The Greens.[8]
In 2001, a Luxembourg film production company had depicted a 40,000 m2 and 15 meter high backdrop built for the feature filmSecret Passage withJohn Turturro on theTerre Rouge, a site of a former steelwork in Esch-sur Alzette. The filmset represents the contemporaryVenice of the 16th century with a 600 meter long copy of theGrand Canal and 118 house facades. The "Venice-sur-Alzette" was built for around 5 million Euro and was one of the largest open-air film sets in European film history.[14]
Esch is connected by the bus lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 12, 13, 15, and 17 of the communal public transport company T.I.C.E. (transports intercommunales du canton Esch/Alzette, intercommunal transportation of the canton Esch/Alzette).[16] Their maintenance depot and headquarter is situated in Esch, and Esch also is connected by lines 307, 312, 313 and 314 of the R.G.T.R.[17]
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