Echternach ( lb, Iechternach or (locally) ) 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 ...

with town status in the canton of

Echternach Echternach ( lb, Iechternach or (locally) ) is a commune with town status in the canton of Echternach, which is part of the district of Grevenmacher, in eastern Luxembourg. Echternach lies near the border with Germany, and is the oldest town in ...

, which is part of the district of

Grevenmacher Grevenmacher (; ) is a commune with town status in eastern Luxembourg, near the border with Germany. It gives its name to and is the capital of the canton of Grevenmacher, and, until its abolition in 2015, the district of Grevenmacher. The town ...

, in eastern

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 ...

. Echternach lies near the border with

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 is the oldest town in Luxembourg.

History

The town grew around the

Abbey of Echternach The Abbey of Echternach is a Benedictine monastery in the town of Echternach, in eastern Luxembourg. The Abbey was founded in the 7th century by St Willibrord, the patron saint of Luxembourg. For three hundred years, it benefited from the pa ...

, which was founded in 698 by

St Willibrord Willibrord (; 658 – 7 November AD 739) was an Anglo-Saxon missionary and saint, known as the "Apostle to the Frisians" in the modern Netherlands. He became the first bishop of Utrecht and died at Echternach, Luxembourg. Early life His father, ...

, an English monk from

Ripon Ripon () is a cathedral city in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city ...

Northumbria la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria , common_name = Northumbria , status = State , status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...

(in present-day

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

), who became the first bishop of

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

and worked to Christianize the

Frisia Frisia is a cross-border cultural region in Northwestern Europe. Stretching along the Wadden Sea, it encompasses the north of the Netherlands and parts of northwestern Germany. The region is traditionally inhabited by the Frisians, a West Ger ...

ns. As bishop, he was the Echternach

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...

until his death in 739. It is in his honour that the notable

Dancing procession of Echternach The dancing procession of Echternach is an annual Roman Catholic dancing procession held at Echternach, in eastern Luxembourg. Echternach's is the last traditional dancing procession in Europe. The procession is held every Whit Tuesday. It honour ...

takes place annually on

Whit Tuesday Whit Tuesday (syn. ''Whittuesday'', ''Whitsun Tuesday'') is the Christian holiday celebrated the day after Pentecost Monday, the third day of the week beginning on Pentecost. Pentecost is a movable feast in the Christian calendar dependent upon ...

. The river

Sauer The Sauer (German and Luxembourgish, , ) or Sûre ( French, ) is a river in Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. A left tributary of the Moselle, its total length is . Rising near Vaux-sur-Sûre in the Ardennes in southeastern Belgium, the Sauer f ...

that flows past the town now forms the border between Luxembourg and Germany; in the later Roman Empire and under the

Merovingians The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gauli ...

by contrast, the Sauer did not form a border or

march March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of Marc ...

in this area. The Roman villa at Echternach (traces of which were rediscovered in 1975) was reputed to be the largest north of the Alps. Echternach was later part of the

Electorate of Trier The Electorate of Trier (german: Kurfürstentum Trier or ' or Trèves) was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that existed from the end of the 9th to the early 19th century. It was the temporal possession of the prince- ...

(present-day Germany) and was presented to

Willibrord Willibrord (; 658 – 7 November AD 739) was an Anglo-Saxon missionary and saint, known as the "Apostle to the Frisians" in the modern Netherlands. He became the first bishop of Utrecht and died at Echternach, Luxembourg. Early life His fathe ...

by Irmina (Irmine), daughter of

Dagobert II Dagobert II ( la, Dagober(c)tus; ang, Dægberht; died 679) was a Merovingian king of the Franks, ruling in Austrasia from 675 or 676 until his death. He is one of the more obscure Merovingians. He has been considered a martyr since at least the ni ...

, king of the Franks. Other parts of the Merovingians' Roman inheritance were presented to the Abbey by king of the Franks

Pepin the Short the Short (french: Pépin le Bref; – 24 September 768), also called the Younger (german: Pippin der Jüngere), was King of the Franks from 751 until his death in 768. He was the first Carolingian to become king. The younger was the son of ...

. Echternach continued to have royal patronage from the house of

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...

. Though the monks were displaced by the canons of the bishop of

Trier Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...

between 859 and 971, and although Willibrord's buildings burned down in 1017, the Romanesque

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

, with its symmetrical towers, to this day houses Willibrord's tomb in its crypt. The abbey's library and

scriptorium Scriptorium (), literally "a place for writing", is commonly used to refer to a room in medieval European monasteries devoted to the writing, copying and illuminating of manuscripts commonly handled by monastic scribes. However, lay scribes and ...

had a European reputation. As it flourished, the town of Echternach grew around the abbey's outer walls and was granted a

city charter A city charter or town charter (generically, municipal charter) is a legal document (''charter'') establishing a municipality such as a city or town. The concept developed in Europe during the Middle Ages. Traditionally the granting of a charter ...

in 1236. The abbey was rebuilt in a handsome

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

style in 1737. In 1794 the church was sacked and the abbey used as a porcelain factory. In 1797, in the wake of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

, the monks were dispersed and the abbey's contents and its famous library were auctioned off. Some of the library's early manuscripts, such as the famous

Echternach Gospels The Echternach Gospels (Paris, Bib. N., MS. lat. 9389) were produced, presumably, at Lindisfarne Abbey in Northumbria around the year 690. This location was very significant for the production of Insular manuscripts, such as the Durham Gospels ...

, are now in the

Bibliothèque Nationale A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. In the 19th century, a porcelain factory was established in the abbey and the town declined, until the advent of the railroad brought renewed life and an influx of tourists. During the concluding months of World War II in Europe, on December 16, 1944, Echternach served as the southernmost point on the battlefront for the attempt of the German Wehrmacht forces attacking the Allies to retake

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

, during the

Battle of the Bulge The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive (military), offensive military campaign, campaign on the Western Front (World War II), Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted fr ...

. The town was badly damaged in World War II but was thoroughly restored.

Culture

There are two main churches in Echternach. The larger is the Abbey's Basilica of

, which survives from the original abbey and is a fair monument of

Romano-Gothic Romano-Gothic refers to an architectural style, also called Early Gothic, which evolved in Europe in the 12th century from the Romanesque style, and was an early style in Gothic architecture. In England "Early English Gothic" remains the usual te ...

architecture. The basilica is now surrounded by the eighteenth-century abbey (today a high school) and is located in the heart of the town's historical centre. The other is the parish church of St Peter and Paul, under whose altar lie the remains of St Willibrord. The nearby Prehistory Museum traces mankind's history over the past one million years. Close to Echternach lies the Echternach lake which hosts several activities every year, like the e-Lake music festival or the "Mill Man Trail" bike race. Since 1975, Echternach has been the site of an

International Music Festival International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

, held annually in May and June. The festival was discontinued in 2018.

Population

Gallery

Luxemburg Echternach BW 2016-08-06 17-30-05.jpg, Basilica (church of the former Benedictine abbey) Echternach, kapel aan de Rue de la Chapelle foto1 2014-06-08 21.19.jpg, Chapel: la chapelle Notre-Dame des Douleur EchternachRomanVilla.jpg, Roman villa Echternach justizkreuz.jpg, Justice cross Echternach mairie.jpg, Town hall Echternach tower east.jpg, Watchtower Echternach, voormalig douanekantoor foto3 2014-06-09 10.14.jpg, Former customs office Echternach rempart.jpg, Southern town wall

Notable people

* Johannes Holler (1614–1671) Roman Catholic prelate and Auxiliary Bishop of Trier 1663–1671 * Joseph-Alexandre Müller (1854–1931) Luxembourg composer. *

Artur Sirk Artur Sirk (25 September 1900 in Pruuna, Lehtse Parish (now Tapa Parish), Kreis Jerwen, Governorate of Estonia, Russian Empire – 2 August 1937 in Echternach, Luxembourg) was an Estonian political and military figure. A veteran of the country ...

(1900 in Pruuna, Estonia – 1937 in Echternach), Estonian political and military figure. *

Rob Krier Rob Krier (born 1938 in Grevenmacher) is a Luxembourgian sculptor, architect, urban designer, and theorist. He is former professor of architecture at Vienna University of Technology, Austria. From 1993 to mid-2010 he worked in partnership with arc ...

(born 1938), architect *

Léon Krier Léon Krier CVO (born 7 April 1946) is a Luxembourgish architect, architectural theorist, and urban planner, a prominent critic of modernist architecture and advocate of New Classical architecture and New Urbanism. Krier combines an internat ...

(born 1946), architect * Jeannette Goergen-Philip (born 1947) Luxembourg archer, competed at the

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

and

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

* Gaston Stronck (born 1957) Luxembourg diplomat *

Georges Lentz Georges Lentz is a contemporary composer and sound artist, born in Luxembourg in 1965 and that country's internationally best known composer. Since 1990, he has been living in Sydney, Australia. Despite his relatively small output and his reclus ...

(born 1965), Luxembourg composer ; Politicians * Caspar Mathias Spoo (1837–1914), Luxembourg industrialist and politician. *

Robert Schaffner Robert Schaffner (24 July 1905 – 2 August 1979) was a Luxembourgian politician. A founding member of the Patriotic and Democratic Group (GPD), now the Democratic Party, Schaffner entered politics after the German occupation during the Second Wo ...

(1905–1979), Luxembourg politician, twice mayor of Echternach, 1945-1947 and 1970-1979 * Marie-Josée Frank (born 1952 in Echternach), Luxembourg politician * Marcel Sauber (born 1939), Luxembourg politician *

Fernand Boden Fernand Boden (born 13 September 1943) is a politician from Luxembourg. He was a minister in the government of Luxembourg from 1979

(born 1943), politician from Luxembourg, government minister 1979–2009

References

External links

*
Official Website of EchternachEverything about EchternachHarmonie Municipale EchternachLocal Radio Echternach 106,5 FM
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20140219102313/http://www.oldpostcardsluxembourg.com/towns_echternach.html Old postcards of Echternach {{Authority control Cities in Luxembourg Communes in Echternach (canton) Towns in Luxembourg Germany–Luxembourg border crossings Roman sites in Luxembourg