Esch-sur-Alzette is a city in Luxembourg and the country's second-most populous commune, with a population of 37,922 inhabitants, as of 2025. It lies in the south-west of the country, on the border with France and in the valley of the Alzette, which flows through the city. The city is usually referred to as just Esch; however, the full name distinguishes it from the village and commune of Esch-sur-Sûre which lies 45 kilometres (28 mi) further north. The country's capital, Luxembourg City, is roughly 15 km (9.3 mi) to the north-east.
The town, first mentioned in the Middle Ages, remained a modest settlement for centuries until the discovery of iron 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.
Esch was selected as the European Capital of Culture for 2022, alongside Kaunas and Novi Sad.
History
The town was mentioned for the first time in 12 April 1128 in a message for Pope Honorius II. 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 the steel industry the town's population multiplied tenfold in a couple of decades. In 1911 the steel- and iron-producing company ARBED was founded. 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.
In the 1970s, as a result of the steel crisis, the mines and many of the blast furnaces were shut down, the last one, in Esch-Belval, definitively halting its operations in 1997. The blast furnaces were replaced by an electric furnace that is fed with scrap metal rather than iron ore.
Today the industrial wastelands on Belval 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 and the Rockhal, Luxembourg's biggest concert hall have been made.
The area around the old blast furnaces will host different structures of the University of Luxembourg, many research centres and the national archives.
Government and politics
Local
Esch is governed by its communal council, consisting of 19 councillors. Communal elections take place every 6 years, under a system of proportional representation. Currently the mayor is Christian Weis, of the Christian Social People's Party (CSV). The governing majority on the council consists of the CSV, the DP and The Greens.
Places of interest
The Lankelz miniature railway operates on Sunday afternoons and public holidays from May to mid-October.
Esch is home to the Esch Conservatory of Music.
The city has the longest shopping street in Luxembourg.
Culture
Film production
In 2001, a Luxembourg film production company had depicted a 40,000 m2 and 15 meter high backdrop built for the feature film Secret Passage with John Turturro on the Terre Rouge, a site of a former steelwork in Esch-sur Alzette. The filmset represents the contemporary Venice of the 16th century with a 600 meter long copy of the Grand 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.
Between 2001 and 2007 many film productions used the gigantic filmset. Among others the feature films The Merchant of Venice with Al Pacino and The Girl with the Pearl Earring with Scarlett Johansson were shot in Esch. In the summer of 2007, the filmset was torn down because the weather was affecting the buildings.
European Capital of Culture for 2022
The city of Esch-sur-Alzette was selected as the European Capital of Culture for 2022, alongside Kaunas and Novi Sad.
Transport
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). 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.
Notable people
- François Biltgen (born 1958), politician, Minister for Justice and judge at the European Court of Justice
- Dominique Brasseur (1833–1906), politician and jurist, Mayor of Luxembourg City 1891/1894.
- René Deltgen (1909–1979), stage and film actor
- Jean Ellis (1946–2006), emergency department physician and climber
- Camillo Felgen (1920–2005), singer, lyricist, disc jockey & TV presenter
- Fernand Franck (born 1934), prelate of the Catholic Church & Archbishop of Luxembourg, 1990/2011.
- Luc Frieden (born 1963), politician and lawyer, 25th Prime Minister of Luxembourg
- Gust Graas (1924–2020), abstract painter and businessman, helped develop radio and television group RTL.
- Pierre Gramegna (born 1958), career diplomat and politician
- Émile Hamilius (1897–1971), footballer, politician & Mayor of Luxembourg City, 1946/1963
- Paul Helminger (1940–2021), politician who was Mayor of Luxembourg City, 1999/2011
- William Justin Kroll (1889–1973), metallurgist, invented the Kroll process in 1940
- Gérard López (born 1971), Luxembourgish-Spanish businessman
- Karin Monschauer (born 1960), embroiderer and digital artist
- Désirée Nosbusch (born 1965), actress and TV presenter.
- Viviane Reding (born 1951), politician, MEP, European Commissioner & Vice-president of the European Commission
- Maggy Stein (1931–1999), sculptor, died locally
- Victor Thorn (1844–1930), politician & the 11th Prime Minister of Luxembourg, 1916/1917.
- Steve Thull (born 1967), Army general & Chief of Defence (Luxembourg)
- Laura Thorn (born 2000), singer and music teacher, represented Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest 2025
Sport
Twin towns – sister cities
Esch-sur-Alzette is twinned with:
- Coimbra, Portugal
- Cologne, Germany
- Liège, Belgium
- Lille, France
- Mödling, Austria
- Offenbach am Main, Germany
- Puteaux, France
- Rotterdam, Netherlands
- Turin, Italy
- Velletri, Italy
- Zemun, Serbia
- Stryi, Ukraine