Belva University Library
The new university surrounded by the old steel production past of Esch Alzette City. Blast furnaces A&B have been restored as museums. The last symbolic pour took place on 31 July 1997 at blast furnace B in Esch-Belval, marking the end of an era that had lasted more than 125 years. In August 1996, the most modern blast furnace C was sold to the Chinese steel manufacturer Cunming Iron and Steel Group Co. Ltd and transferred to Kungang in China's Yunnan province, where it is still in production. In 1973, shortly before the crisis, the steel industry in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg employed more than 27,000 people, was the country's main source of revenue and produced 6.5 million tonnes of steel a year. The traditional system has since been replaced by electric furnaces in which scrap metal is melted by an electric arc passing through it. Annual production is now around 2 million tonnes, and the sector now employs just 3,500 people.
Belva University Library
The new university surrounded by the old steel production past of Esch Alzette City. Blast furnaces A&B have been restored as museums. The last symbolic pour took place on 31 July 1997 at blast furnace B in Esch-Belval, marking the end of an era that had lasted more than 125 years. In August 1996, the most modern blast furnace C was sold to the Chinese steel manufacturer Cunming Iron and Steel Group Co. Ltd and transferred to Kungang in China's Yunnan province, where it is still in production. In 1973, shortly before the crisis, the steel industry in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg employed more than 27,000 people, was the country's main source of revenue and produced 6.5 million tonnes of steel a year. The traditional system has since been replaced by electric furnaces in which scrap metal is melted by an electric arc passing through it. Annual production is now around 2 million tonnes, and the sector now employs just 3,500 people.