Larochette (;

Luxembourgish Luxembourgish ( ; also ''Luxemburgish'', ''Luxembourgian'', ''Letzebu(e)rgesch''; Luxembourgish: ) is a West Germanic language that is spoken mainly in Luxembourg. About 400,000 people speak Luxembourgish worldwide. As a standard form of th ...

: ''Fiels'',

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

: ''Fels'') 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 ...

and town in central

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 ...

, in the canton of Mersch. It is situated on the

White Ernz The White Ernz (, , ) is a river flowing through Luxembourg, joining the Sauer at Reisdorf. It flows through the towns of Larochette, Medernach and Ermsdorf. The river valley also includes the notable feature of having a twin castle from the 14t ...

river. The town is dominated by the partly ruined

Larochette Castle Larochette Castle (Luxembourgish: ''Buerg Fiels'', German: ''Burg Fels'', French: ''Château de Larochette'') stands high above the town of Larochette in central Luxembourg. Dating from the 11th century, the castle was destroyed by fire at the ...

. The town of Larochette lies in the north-east of the commune. Other towns within the commune include Ernzen. Meysembourg Castle, located some south-west of Larochette, has a history dating back to the 12th century. Today's castle was built in 1880 in

Neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range ...

style and is privately owned.

Geography

The settlements of the commune lie in the valley of the

into which the commune's streams Ousterbur, Manzebaach and Iernzerbaach run. The valley is surrounded by Luxembourg Sandstone and small areas of Steinmergelkeuper.

History

The town of Larochette used to be a small industrial hub. It was specialised in cloth mills on the river White Ernz from the end of the 18th century until the 1930s with some factories being active until the 1980s. In the street ''Rue de Medernach'' was a spinning factory, which became a brush factory from the 1920s to 1986 and is nowadays an apartment complex. At the location of today's primary school and cultural center on the same road used to be an industrial complex with different industrial uses over the years. In the ''Rue Scheerbach'' were several textile factories that are now residential buildings, one of the industrial chimneys has been restored. Other remnants can be seen in a museum in a building of the former train station. Larochette was part of the narrow-gauge railway Larochette - Cruchten that was operational from 1882 to 1948. It was also connected to another narrow-gauge railway that went to the quarries in Ernzen over Heffingen-Soup. The planned connection to Junglinster was never finished. Still visible today are the train station buildings of Larochette, a train depot that is nowadays a petrol station and supermarket, as well as several bridges. Many sections are now part of the national cycle path network.

Population

Gallery

File:Larochette 1.jpg File:Larochette Castle - 5.jpg File:Larochette Castle - 2.jpg File:Larochette 7 rue Scheerbach 01.jpg File:Croix de justice Larochette place Bleech 02.jpg File:Fiels Déi al Gare.jpg File:Ernzen, inauguration de la piste cyclable PC5.jpg

References

External links

* Communes in Mersch (canton) Towns in Luxembourg {{Mersch-geo-stub