”Schetzelbur”

The “Schet­zel­bur”, spring of the White Ernz The fount was caught in 1948 and equipped with a basin by the scouts group of Limpertsberg.

In the mid­dle of the Grünewald the White Ernz has its source, called “Schet­zel­bur” because the beat­i­fied her­mit Schet­ze­lo lived near the source in a cav­ern in the 12^th cen­tu­ry. It was name­ly this source that sup­plied him with the vital drink­ing water.

Just as the Black Ernz, the White Ernz also has its source on the ter­ri­to­ry of the Nieder­an­ven Munic­i­pal­i­ty in the Lux­em­bourg Sand­stone lay­er, the most impor­tant nation­al drink­ing water reser­voir. In the vil­lage of Eisen­born, the brook (called “Schet­zel­bach” here) leaves the com­mu­ni­ty ter­ri­to­ry already after a few meters and con­tin­ues its way in the north east­ern direction.

In Reis­dorf, a vil­lage sur­round­ed with woods and sit­u­at­ed in the val­ley of the riv­er Sauer, the White Ernz is flow­ing into last named.

Many small afflux­es make the brook swell and soon it flows as a par­al­lel riv­er to the Black Ernz. Just as its name­sake it runs through the Sand­stone lay­er all by dig­ging deep into the rocks and form­ing a beau­ti­ful and attrac­tive land­scape around, so charm­ing for locals and tourists.

Up to its estu­ary in the Sauer, the bor­der riv­er between Lux­em­bourg and Ger­many and the sec­ond largest nation­al riv­er, the White Ernz flows over 33 km. As its stream course is one of the strongest besides the Alzette and the Black Ernz, the White Ernz rep­re­sents one of the most impor­tant afflux­es of the Sauer.

The valley of mills

Locat­ed in the White Enrz val­ley, the vil­lage of Laro­chette (Fiels) rep­re­sents with its impres­sive old cas­tle ruin a per­fect pop­u­lar tourist centre.

The low­er part of the White Ernz, from Erms­dorf to Reis­dorf, is called “the val­ley of mills”. Con­struct­ed most­ly dur­ing the 19^th cen­tu­ry, the the mills were sup­plied by the waters of the White Ernz in order to grind cere­als or extract oil. Some of these mills even pro­duced elec­tric­i­ty need­ed to enleight­en the sur­round­ing villages.

The river name “Ernz”

The beat­i­fied her­mit Schet­ze­lo, once liv­ing in the Grünewald, gave his name to the White Ernz, also called “Schet­zel­bur”.

The names of white and black Ernz, prove that our rivers’ names are of ancient ori­gins. The name “Ernz” as well as the French word “Arance”, comes from “Aran­tia”. It is the a pre-celtic name of a riv­er (“Ar” =riv­er).