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Arlon

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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the chief town of the Belgian province of Luxemburg, situated on a hill about 1240 ft. above the sea. Pop. (1904) 10,894. It is a very ancient town, and in the time of the Romans was called Orolaunum, being a station on the Antoninian way connecting Reims and Treves. Authorities dispute as to the origin of the name, some tracing it to Ara Lunae, a temple of Diana having been erected here, while others more plausibly derive it from the Celtic words ar (mount) and lun (wooded). Nowadays the woods have disappeared, and Arlon is chiefly notable for the extensive views obtainable from the church of St Donat which crowns the peak. Arlon is no longer fortified. When Vauban by order of Louis XIV. turned it into a fortress in 1671 great damage was done to the old Roman wall, the foundations of which were practically intact. In the local museum are many Roman antiquities collected on the spot, including several large sculptural stones similar to the celebrated monument at Igel near Treves. In the middle ages Arlon was the seat of a powerful countship (later marquisate), held after 1235 by the dukes of Luxemburg. As an important strategic position it was several times seized by the French, e.g. in 1647 and 1651.