Moselle (département)
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Moselle () is the most populous department in
Lorraine Lorraine, also , ; ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; ; ; is a cultural and historical region in Eastern France, now located in the administrative region of Grand Est. Its name stems from the medieval kingdom of ...
, in the northeast of
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, and is named after the river
Moselle The Moselle ( , ; ; ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A sm ...
, a tributary of the
Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
, which flows through the western part of the department. It had a population of 1,046,543 in 2019.Populations légales 2019: 57 Moselle
INSEE
Inhabitants of the department are known as ''Mosellans''.


History

On 4 March 1790 Moselle became one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution. In 1793, France annexed the
enclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is so ...
s of Manderen, Momerstroff, and the
County of Kriechingen The County of Kriechingen was a state of the Holy Roman Empire. It was originally a part of the Duchy of Lorraine and was raised to an imperial estate in 1617. It belonged to the Upper Rhenish Circle. In 1697, Kriechingen was inherited by the Pri ...
– all possessions of princes of the
Duchy of Luxemburg The Duchy of Luxembourg (; ; ; ) was a state of the Holy Roman Empire, the ancestral homeland of the noble House of Luxembourg. The House of Luxembourg became one of the most important political forces in the 14th century, competing against th ...
– a
state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...
of the Holy Roman Empire, and incorporated them into the Moselle department. In 1795, the ''seigneurie de Lixing'' was also integrated into the Moselle department. One of its first prefects was the comte de Vaublanc, from 1805 to 1814. By the Treaty of Paris of 1814 following the first defeat and abdication of
Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
, France had to surrender almost all the territory it had conquered since 1792. In northeastern France, the Treaty did not restore the 1792 borders, however, but defined a new frontier to put an end to the convoluted nature of the border, with all its enclaves and exclaves. As a result, France ceded the
exclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is s ...
of
Tholey Tholey () is a municipality in the Sankt Wendel (district), district of Sankt Wendel, in Saarland, Germany. It is situated approximately west of Sankt Wendel, and north of Saarbrücken. History Local history The first traces of settlement in t ...
(now in
Saarland Saarland (, ; ) is a state of Germany in the southwest of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and the smallest in ...
,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
) as well as a few communes near
Sierck-les-Bains Sierck-les-Bains (; ; Lorraine Franconian: ''Siirk''/''Siirck'') is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Localities of the commune: Rudling, Kœnigsberg (German: Rudlingen, Königsberg) Language Revitali ...
(both territories until then part of the Moselle department) to Austria. On the other hand, the Treaty confirmed the French annexations of 1793, and furthermore, the south of the Napoleonic department of Sarre was ceded to France, including the town of
Lebach Lebach () is a town in the district of Saarlouis, in Saarland, Germany. It is approximately northeast of Saarlouis and north of Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; Rhenish Franconian: ''Sabrigge'' ; ; ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of ci ...
, the city of
Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; Rhenish Franconian: ''Sabrigge'' ; ; ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken has 181,959 inhabitants and is Saarland's administrative, commerci ...
, and the rich coal basin nearby. France thus became a net beneficiary of the Treaty of Paris: all the new territories ceded to her being far larger and more strategically useful than the few territories ceded to Austria. All these new territories were incorporated into the Moselle department, and giving Moselle a larger area than it had had since 1790. However, with the return of Napoleon (March 1815) and his final defeat at the
Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (then in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium), marking the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The French Imperial Army (1804–1815), Frenc ...
(June 1815), the Treaty of Paris in November 1815 imposed much harsher conditions on France. Tholey and the communes around Sierck-les-Bains were still to be ceded as agreed in 1814, but the south of the Sarre department with Saarbrücken was withdrawn from France. In addition, France had to cede to
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
the area of Rehlingen (now in Saarland) as well as the strategic fort-town of
Saarlouis Saarlouis (; , ; formerly Sarre-Libre and Saarlautern) is a town in Saarland, Germany, capital of the district of Saarlouis (district), Saarlouis. In 2020, the town had a population of 34,409. Saarlouis is located on the river Saar (river), Saar. ...
and the territory around it, all territories and towns which France had controlled since the 17th century, and which had formed part of the Moselle department since 1790. At the end of 1815, Austria transferred all these territories to
Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
, making for the first time a shared border for those two states. Thus, by the end of 1815, the Moselle department finally had the limits that it would keep until 1871. It was slightly smaller than at its creation in 1790, the incorporation of the Austrian enclaves not compensating for the loss of Saarlouis, Rehlingen, Tholey, and the communes around Sierck-les-Bains. Between 1815 and 1871, the department had an area of . Its
prefecture A prefecture (from the Latin word, "''praefectura"'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain inter ...
(capital) was
Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...
. It had four arrondissements: Metz, Briey, Sarreguemines, and
Thionville Thionville (; ; ) is a city in the northeastern French Departments of France, department of Moselle (department), Moselle. The city is located on the left bank of the river Moselle (river), Moselle, opposite its suburb Yutz. History Thionvi ...
. After the French defeat in the
Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...
of 1870–71, almost all of the Moselle department, along with
Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...
and portions of the Meurthe and
Vosges The Vosges ( , ; ; Franconian and ) is a range of medium mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single geomorphological unit and ...
departments, went to the
German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...
by the Treaty of Frankfurt on the grounds that most of the population in those areas spoke
German dialects German dialects are the various traditional local varieties of the German language. Though varied by region, those of the southern half of Germany beneath the Benrath line are dominated by the geographical spread of the High German consonant s ...
. Bismarck omitted only one-fifth of Moselle (the arrondissement of Briey in the extreme west of the department) from annexation, (Bismarck later regretted his decision when it was discovered that the region of Briey and
Longwy Longwy (; older , ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, Lorraine, administrative region of Grand Est, northeastern France. The inhabitants are known as ''Longoviciens''. In ...
had rich iron-ore deposits.) The Moselle department ceased to exist on 18 May 1871, and the eastern four-fifths of Moselle was annexed to Germany merged with the also German-annexed eastern third of the Meurthe Department into the German Department of Lorraine, based in Metz, within the newly established Imperial State of Alsace-Lorraine. France merged the remaining area of Briey with the truncated Meurthe department to create the new
Meurthe-et-Moselle Meurthe-et-Moselle () is a '' département'' in the Grand Est region of France, named after the rivers Meurthe and Moselle. Its prefecture and largest city is Nancy and it borders the departments of Meuse to the west, Vosges to the south, ...
department (a new name chosen on purpose to remind people of the lost Moselle department) with its ''préfecture'' at Nancy. In 1919, following the French victory in the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, Germany returned Alsace-Lorraine to France under the terms of the
Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...
. However, it was decided not to recreate the old separate departments of Meurthe and Moselle by reverting to the old department borders of before 1871. Instead, Meurthe-et-Moselle was left untouched, and the annexed part of Lorraine (Bezirk Lothringen) was reconstituted as the new department of Moselle. Thus, the Moselle department was reborn, but with quite different borders from those before 1871. Having lost the area of Briey, it had now gained the areas of
Château-Salins Château-Salins (; , from 1941 to 1944 ''Salzburgen'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments of France, department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Until 2015, Château-Salins was a Subprefectures ...
and
Sarrebourg Sarrebourg (; also , ; Lorraine Franconian: ; older ) is a commune of northeastern France. In 1895 a Mithraeum was discovered at Sarrebourg at the mouth of the pass leading from the Vosges Mountains. Geography Sarrebourg is located in the ...
which before 1871 had formed one-third of the Meurthe department and which had been part of the ''Reichsland'' of ''Alsace-Lorraine'' since 1871. The new Moselle department now reached its current area of , larger than the old Moselle because the areas of Château-Salins and Sarrebourg were far larger than the area of Briey and Longwy. When the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
was declared on 3 September 1939, around 30% of Moselle's territory lay between the
Maginot Line The Maginot Line (; ), named after the Minister of War (France), French Minister of War André Maginot, is a line of concrete fortifications, obstacles and weapon installations built by French Third Republic, France in the 1930s to deter invas ...
and the German frontier. 302,732 people, around 45% of the department's population, were evacuated to departments in central and western France during September 1939. Of those evacuated, around 200,000 returned after the war. In spite of the 22 June 1940 armistice, Moselle was again annexed by Germany in July of that year by becoming part of the '' Gau Westmark''. Adolf Hitler considered Moselle and Alsace parts of Germany, and as a result the inhabitants were drafted into the German
Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...
. Several organized groups were formed in resistance to the German occupation, notably the Groupe Mario, led by Jean Burger, and the Groupe Derhan. During these years more than 10,000 Mosellans were deported to camps, many to the
Sudetenland The Sudetenland ( , ; Czech and ) is a German name for the northern, southern, and western areas of former Czechoslovakia which were inhabited primarily by Sudeten Germans. These German speakers had predominated in the border districts of Bohe ...
, for publicly opposing the annexation. The
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
liberated Moselle from
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
in the Battle of Metz in September 1944, although combat continued in the northeastern part of the department until March 1945. Moselle was returned to French governance in 1945 with the same frontiers as in 1919. The department was hit particularly hard during the war: the American bombardments in the spring of 1944 caused widespread collateral damage; 23% of the communes in Moselle were 50% destroyed, and 8% of the communes were than 75% destroyed. As a result of German aggression during the war, the French Government actively discouraged the German heritage of the region, and the local German
Lorraine Franconian Lorraine Franconian ( native name: or ; or '; ) is an ambiguous designation for dialects of West Central German (), a group of High German dialects spoken in the Moselle department of the former northeastern French region of Lorraine (See ...
dialects ceased to be used in the public realm. In recent years there has been a revival of the old dialects and distinct Franco-German culture of the region with the onset of open borders between France and Germany as members of the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
's
Schengen Treaty The Schengen Agreement ( , ) is a treaty which led to the creation of Europe's Schengen Area, in which internal border checks have largely been abolished. It was signed on 14 June 1985, near the town of Schengen, Luxembourg, by five of the t ...
.


Geography

Moselle is part of the current
region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...
of
Grand Est Grand Est (; ) is an Regions of France, administrative region in northeastern France. It superseded three former administrative regions, Alsace, Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine, on 1 January 2016 under the provisional name of Alsace-Champagne-A ...
and is surrounded by the French departments of
Meurthe-et-Moselle Meurthe-et-Moselle () is a '' département'' in the Grand Est region of France, named after the rivers Meurthe and Moselle. Its prefecture and largest city is Nancy and it borders the departments of Meuse to the west, Vosges to the south, ...
and
Bas-Rhin Bas-Rhin () is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its lower altitude among the two French Rhine departments: it is downstream of the Haut-Rhin (Upper Rhine) de ...
, as well as
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
(states of
Saarland Saarland (, ; ) is a state of Germany in the southwest of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and the smallest in ...
and
Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...
) and
Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...
in the north. Parts of Moselle belong to
Parc naturel régional de Lorraine Lorraine Regional Natural Park ( French: ''Parc naturel régional de Lorraine'') is a protected area of pastoral countryside in the Grand Est region of northeastern France, in the historic region of Lorraine. The park covers a total area of . The ...
. The following are the most important rivers: *
Moselle The Moselle ( , ; ; ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A sm ...
* Sarre * Seille The department is geographically organized around the
Moselle The Moselle ( , ; ; ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A sm ...
valley. The region was long considered a march between
Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...
and the north, remaining relatively poor until the 19th century, and was consequently less urbanized and populous than other regions at the time.


Environment

The environment has undergone heavy industrialization linked to
iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...
deposits in
Lorraine Lorraine, also , ; ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; ; ; is a cultural and historical region in Eastern France, now located in the administrative region of Grand Est. Its name stems from the medieval kingdom of ...
, which have artificialized valleys and river banks. Industries have created vast land holdings in the valleys by buying land from agriculturists and profiting from water rights. Questions of
environmental degradation Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, referring respectively to all living and non-living things occurring naturally and the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism ...
were politicized at the end of the 19th century. Since then, one academic has argued that a consensus has been reached in the region regarding pollution, which is seen as the price of continuing the steel industry.


Principal towns

The most populous commune is
Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...
, the prefecture. As of 2019, there are 8 communes with more than 15,000 inhabitants:


Economy

In the 19th century, Moselle's economy was characterized by heavy industry, especially
steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...
and
iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...
works. After the weakening of these industries at the end of the 20th century, the department has tried to promote new economic activities based on industry and technology, such as the
Cattenom Nuclear Power Plant The Cattenom Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power plant located in Grand Est in the Cattenom commune, France, on the Moselle River between Thionville (7 km upstream) and Trier (48 km downstream). It is close to the city of Luxembou ...
. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Moselle created the "Achat-Moselle" website in the 2000s to address issues of
e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) refers to commercial activities including the electronic buying or selling products and services which are conducted on online platforms or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile co ...
and in-person commerce. The site helps local businesses to create pages showcasing their services, boosting their visibility and potential activity.


Demographics

The inhabitants of the department are called ''Mosellans'' in French. The population has remained relatively stable since World War II and now exceeds 1 million, located mostly in the urban area around
Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...
and along the river
Moselle The Moselle ( , ; ; ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A sm ...
. If the Moselle department still existed in its limits of between 1815 and 1871, its population at the 1999 French census would have been 1,089,804 inhabitants. The current Moselle department, whose limits were set in 1919, had less population, with only 1,023,447 inhabitants. This is because the industrial area of Briey and Longwy lost in 1871 is more populated than the rural areas of Château-Salins and
Sarrebourg Sarrebourg (; also , ; Lorraine Franconian: ; older ) is a commune of northeastern France. In 1895 a Mithraeum was discovered at Sarrebourg at the mouth of the pass leading from the Vosges Mountains. Geography Sarrebourg is located in the ...
gained in 1919. The southern part of the department, especially around Saulnois, has remained more rural. A significant minority of inhabitants of the department (fewer than 100,000) speak a German dialect known as ''platt lorrain'' or ''Lothringer Platt'' (see
Lorraine Franconian Lorraine Franconian ( native name: or ; or '; ) is an ambiguous designation for dialects of West Central German (), a group of High German dialects spoken in the Moselle department of the former northeastern French region of Lorraine (See ...
and Linguistic boundary of Moselle). The German dialect is found primarily in the northeast section of the department, which borders
Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...
,
Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...
, and
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. Four sites in Moselle were included in the
Atlas Linguarum Europae The ''Atlas Linguarum Europae'' (literally ''Atlas of the Languages of Europe'', ALE in acronym) is a linguistic atlas project launched in 1970 with the help of UNESCO, and published from 1975 to 2007. The ALE used its own phonetic transcription sy ...
, to investigate the Germanic dialects used in these areas: Arzviller, Guessling, Petit-Réderching and Rodemack.
Linguistically Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds and equivalent gestures i ...
, ''Platt'' can be further subdivided into three varieties, going from east to west: Rhenish Franconian,
Moselle Franconian Moselle Franconian (; ) is a West Central German language, part of the Central Franconian languages area, that includes Luxembourgish. Overview Moselle Franconian is spoken in the southern Rhineland and along the course of the Moselle, i ...
, and
Luxembourgish Luxembourgish ( ; also ''Luxemburgish'', ''Luxembourgian'', ''Letzebu(e)rgesch''; ) is a West Germanic language that is spoken mainly in Luxembourg. About 400,000 people speak Luxembourgish worldwide. The language is standardized and officiall ...
.


Politics

The president of the Departmental Council is Patrick Weiten, elected in 2011.


Presidential elections 2nd round


Current National Assembly Representatives


Culture

Eastern Moselle has preserved a number of local traditions, notably the Kirb festivals celebrated in October in rural areas, Mardi Gras parades in Sarreguemines, and the August
mirabelle Mirabelle plum (''Prunus domestica'' subsp. ''syriaca'') is a cultivar group of plum trees of the genus ''Prunus''. It is believed that the plum was cultivated from a wild fruit grown in Anatolia. Description The mirabelle is identified by it ...
festival in
Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...
which includes a variety of cultural activities. The Opéra-Théâtre de Metz, is the oldest active theater in France and has continuously operated from the 18th century. Metz also has a number of concert halls that offer diverse events such as comedy shows and symphony orchestras.
Thionville Thionville (; ; ) is a city in the northeastern French Departments of France, department of Moselle (department), Moselle. The city is located on the left bank of the river Moselle (river), Moselle, opposite its suburb Yutz. History Thionvi ...
is home to the NEST (Nord-Est Théâtre).


Law

Moselle and Alsace to its east have their own laws in certain fields. The statutes in question date primarily from the period 1871–1919 when the area was part of the
German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...
. With the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France in 1919, many in central government assumed that the recovered territories would be subject to French law. Local resistance to a total acceptance of French law arose because some of Bismarck's reforms included strong protections for civil and social rights. After much discussion and uncertainty, Paris accepted in 1924 that pre-existing German law would apply in certain fields, notably hunting, economic life, local government relationships, health insurance, and social rights. Many of the relevant statues continue to be referred to in the original German, as they have never been formally translated. One major difference with French law is the absence of the formal separation between church and state: several mainstream denominations of the Christian church as well as the Jewish faithIn Moselle these are the Diocese of Metz, the CIM, the
EPCAAL The Protestant Church of the Augsburg Confession of Alsace and Lorraine (, EPCAAL; , ''Kirche A.B. von Elsass und Lothringen''; ) is a Lutheranism, Lutheran church of statutory corporation, public-law corporation status (établissement public du ...
and the EPRAL.
benefit from state funding, despite principles applied rigorously in the rest of France.


Tourism

Over the past twenty years the Conseil départemental de la Moselle has encouraged the development of tourism in the department. The creation of more hotels, camp sites, hiking trails, bicycle paths, and other tourist services have significantly increased the number of tourists in Moselle. The Conseil départemental de la Moselle created an "Organ Trail" to display a number of the department's 650 organs, many of which were built in the area and have historic significance. The oldest organ in the department dates is in the cathedral Saint-Étienne de Metz and dates from 1537. In the 19th century, Moselle had 17 operational organ factories, although only five exist in the present day. Moselle has numerous chateaux, manors, and fortified manors, dating largely from the 17th and 18th centuries, many of which are partially destroyed. File:Cathedrale Metz Nef pano.jpg,
Metz Cathedral Metz Cathedral is the cathedral of the Catholic Roman Catholic Diocese of Metz, Diocese of Metz, the seat of the Bishop of Metz, bishops of Metz. It is dedicated to Saint Stephen. The diocese dates back at least to the 4th century and the presen ...
File:Fabert, statue de Metz.JPG, Statue of Abraham de Fabert, in
Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...
File:Saint-Quirin Église et Haute Chapelle.JPG, Saint-Quirin File:Rodemack3.JPG, Rodemack, one of the most beautiful villages of France File:Citadelle de Bitche (14).jpg, Citadel of
Bitche Bitche (English pronunciation: , ; German and Lorraine Franconian: ) is a commune in Moselle department, in the region of Grand Est in northeastern France. It is the Pays de Bitche's capital city, and the seat of the Canton of Bitche and the ...
File:Le site médiéval du Vieux-Hombourg.jpg, Medieval heritage site of Hombourg-Haut


See also

* Arrondissements of the Moselle department * Cantons of the Moselle department *
Communes of the Moselle department The following is a list of the 725 communes of the Moselle department of France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include Frenc ...
* German exonyms (Moselle)


References


Further reading

* Carrol, Alison. ''The Return of Alsace to France, 1918-1939'' (Oxford University Press, 2018). * Zanoun, Louisa. "Language, Regional Identity and the Failure of the Left in the Moselle Département, 1871-1936." ''European History Quarterly'' 41.2 (2011): 231–254. * Zanoun, Louisa. "Interwar politics in a French border region: the Moselle in the period of the Popular Front, 1934-1938." (PhD Diss. The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), 2009)
online


External links

*
Prefecture website
*
Departmental Council website
*
Moselle-annuaire.fr
Moselle's Websites Directory {{Authority control 1790 establishments in France Grand Est region articles needing translation from French Wikipedia Departments of Grand Est Department States and territories established in 1790