Pétange

Coordinates: 49°33′23″N 5°52′37″E / 49.5564°N 5.8769°E / 49.5564; 5.8769
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Pétange
Péiteng
Commune
The town hall
The town hall
Esch-sur-Alzette
Government
 • MayorJean-Marie Halsdorf (CSV)
Area
 • Total11.93 km2 (4.61 sq mi)
 • Rank91st of 100
Highest elevation
397 m (1,302 ft)
 • Rank53rd of 100
Lowest elevation
260 m (850 ft)
 • Rank63rd of 100
Population
 (2023)
 • Total20,563
 • Rank
LAU 2
LU0000209
Websitepetange.lu

Pétange (French pronunciation:

canton of Esch-sur-Alzette and is the fifth-most populous commune in Luxembourg, as well as the most populous without town status. Pétange lies at the borders with both Belgium and France
.

As of 2024[update], the town of Pétange, which lies in the north of the commune, has a population of 9,910.

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

département of Forêts, 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, after the Congress of Vienna
, the towns of Rodange and Lamadelaine passed with it.

The town's importance grew greatly in the late nineteenth century, thanks to the booming

railway into Pétange was opened in 1873, running to Esch-sur-Alzette. Further railway lines were added to Ettelbruck (1873) and Luxembourg City
(1900).

On 9 September 1944, Pétange became the first commune in the country to be liberated by

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

On August 9, 2019, a high-end F2 multiple-vortex tornado hit the town; this is a rare occurrence in Luxembourg. 19 people were injured, two seriously, and over 160 buildings were destroyed. The tornado reached windspeed between 200 and 250 km/h, suggesting F3 intensity. Many roofs were completely torn off, some of which landed on houses and vehicles. Large mast were also downed. The tornado traveled 14 km (8.6 miles) in total across a widespread area.[2][3][4]

Geography

The commune lies in the extreme south-west of Luxembourg, bordering both the

Luxembourg. The town of Rodange lies just across the border from the Belgian town of Aubange. Pétange is situated at the west end of the Red Lands: iron-rich sedimentary rocks that form the far south and south-west of Luxembourg. The town lies in the upper reaches of the Chiers valley, and is one of the few places in Luxembourg (along with the commune of Differdange) to lie outside the drainage system of the Rhine
.

The commune is only 12 square kilometres (5 sq mi) 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, in the south-west of the commune, is home to 4,505 people, whilst Lamadelaine, in the south of the commune, has a population of 2,335.

Population

[5]

Attractions

The south of the commune is home to

hill fort
was 1 km (0.62 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.

Pétange is the home of the Grand-Duchy's largest pre-Lenten Karneval celebration. Annually hosting a calvalacade with roughly 1200 participants and thousand of participants, the official name is Karneval Gemeng Péiteng or Kagepe (the initials in Luxembourgish are pronounced Ka, Ge and Pe).

The

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 team in Luxembourg's top-flight National Division, called Union Titus Pétange. They play their home games at the Stade Municipal. Despite being one of the oldest Luxembourgian clubs in existence, having been founded in 1910, Pétange have won only one trophy, the Luxembourg Cup
in 2004–05.

Sports

Notable people

Germaine Damar, 2011

Twin towns — sister cities

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Luxembourg

Pétange is

twinned with:[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Registre national des personnes physiques RNPP : Population par localité". data.public.lu. 2024-01-07.
  2. ^ "Tornado leaves trail of destruction in Luxembourg | DW | 10.08.2019". Deutsche Welle.
  3. ^ "Petange, Bascharage, 09.08.2019".
  4. ^ "Pictures and videos: One year ago: Tornado caused havoc in Pétange and Bascharage".
  5. ^ "Population par canton et commune". statistiques.public.lu. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  6. ^ "Villes jumelées" (in French). Pétange. Retrieved 2019-09-02.

External links

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Pétange.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pétange.
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