Athus
| Athus | ||
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| City | ||
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 Athus
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| Coordinates: 49°33′48″N 005°50′00″E / 49.56333°N 5.83333°E | ||
| Elevation | 920 ft (280 m) | |
| Population | ||
| • Total | 7,227 | |
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Athus (German: Athem, Luxembourgish: Attem, Walloon: Atu) is a town and section of the Aubange municipality of the province of Luxembourg, in south-eastern Belgium. It is located in the far south of the country, just near the borders with France and Luxembourg. It is a French speaking city, though the traditional language is Luxembourgish. 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.
The city is surrounded by two boundaries: the one with France and the other one with Luxembourg; city was built around the Messancy river and the river Chiers, both right tributaries to the Meuse river. Directly across the border with Luxembourg is the town of Rodange and the town of Pétange is 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) to the east. On the French side, the main neighbouring city is Longwy in Meurthe-et-Moselle, over 5 km to the south west.
Athus is situated at 200 kilometers from Brussels, 25 from Luxembourg City and 15 from Arlon.
Athus has always been a Germanic place though its first origins are during the Roman period. It was a little village until the 17th century when the steelworks 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 Aubange 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 famousness 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 one 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.)
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