Audun-le-Tiche (; ; ) is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the Moselle department in

Grand Est Grand Est (; gsw-FR, Grossa Oschta; Moselle Franconian/ lb, Grouss Osten; Rhine Franconian: ''Groß Oschte''; german: Großer Osten ; en, "Great East") is an administrative region in Northeastern France. It superseded three former administrat ...

in northeastern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Location and rail links

Audun-le-Tiche is located adjacent to

Esch-sur-Alzette Esch-sur-Alzette (; lb, Esch-Uelzecht ; german: Esch an der Alzette or ''Esch an der Alzig'') is the second city of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the country's second-most populous commune, with a population of 35,040 inhabitants, . It lies ...

, on the border with

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

, and close to the borders of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. Audun-le-Tiche is served by a railway station that is served by both the French national railway and the

Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois The Chemins Company is a dietary supplement manufacturer based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The company, founded in 1974 by James Cameron, became embroiled in a series of criminal investigations in 1994 after a woman died and more than 100 other ...

, on whose Line 60 it is located.

History

The name Audun comes from ''Awedeux'', as a phonetical evolution of Latin ''Aquaeducta'', and le Tiche is an evolution of ''Thieux'', meaning "the German" — cf. ''Deutsch''. The corresponding town

Audun-le-Roman Audun-le-Roman (; Lorrain: ''Audeu''; german: Welsch-Oth) is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in northeastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Meurthe-et-Moselle department The following is a list of the 591 commun ...

lies in the former

Romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

, or Latin-speaking area, where Audun-le-Tiche is the other side of the language border, in the Germanic-speaking area. Nowadays, these two cities are respectively named ''Deutsch-Oth'' and ''Welsch-Oth'' in German. The town was long associated with the mining industry. The history of mining in Audun-le-Tiche and its decline has been described in the writings of

Aurélie Filippetti Aurélie Filippetti ( ; born 17 June 1973) is a French politician and novelist. She served as French Minister of Culture and Communications from 2012 until 2014, first in the government of Jean-Marc Ayrault and then in the government of Manue ...

.Aurélie Filippetti, 'Les derniers jours de la classe ouvrière', Éditions Stock, 2003 The

Villeroy & Boch Villeroy & Boch (, ) is a German manufacturer of ceramics, with the company headquarters located in Mettlach, Saarland. History The company began in the tiny Lorraine village of Audun le Tiche, where the iron master François Boch set up a pott ...

ceramic manufacturing company was founded in 1748 in Audun by

François Boch Villeroy & Boch (, ) is a German manufacturer of ceramics, with the company headquarters located in Mettlach, Saarland. History The company began in the tiny Lorraine village of Audun le Tiche, where the iron master François Boch set up a pott ...

. The company headquarter later moved to nearby

, and in 1801 to

Mettlach Mettlach (Saarlandic dialect:Mettlich) is a municipality in the district Merzig-Wadern, in Saarland, Germany, situated on the river Saar, approximately northwest of Merzig, and south of Trier. The headquarters of Villeroy & Boch are in Mettlach ...

, Germany. Audun sister town is

Gualdo Tadino Gualdo Tadino (Latin: ''Tadinum'') is an ancient town of Italy, in the province of Perugia in northeastern Umbria, on the lower flanks of Monte Penna, a mountain of the Apennines. It is NE of Perugia. History Gualdo has a long history and was o ...

in Italy, from which immigrants came working in mining industry during the 19th century.