arms granted on 28 July 1892 can be described as follows: dexter (heraldric right) the arms of Ribeaupierre (a silver field with three red shields), sinister (heraldric left) the arms of Lorraine (a gold field with a red band containing three silver eagles), with both surmounted by a central shield bearing the miners' symbol (a black field bearing two crossed silver-colored mining hammers). These arms evoke both the geographic and political situation of the town prior to the French Revolution and the mining industry for which it was famous. The town is a holder of the Croix de Guerre 1914-1918 with palm (citation by order of the Army of November 2, 1921) and of the Croix de guerre 1939-1945 with vermeil star (citation by order of the armed force). History Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines owes its fame to its mines. All the evolution is so conditioned in the exploitation of mines. These mines would have been discovered with Gallo-Romains which had already begun the exploitation of mines at the beginning of the 2nd or 3rd century after Jesus Christ. This hypothesis had been suggested, but was very fast abandoned for lack of serious documents. Robert Forrer put handed her in value in 1927 by basing itself on the presence of antimony in the currencies of and the valley of Lièpvre of which depended more or less, antimony, which according to him, could come only of Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines's region, which would have so known mines from this time. It is then the black hole until the 10th century when according to the monk of the abbey of whom lived in the 13th century, a named monk Blidulphe based Echéry's convent, situated right by the current Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines. The monks noticed soon that the valley abounded in mine fertility. The monks of Echéry are soon threatened in their possessions and their rights by the family of Echery which builds in the 13th century, the castle of Hoh-Eckerich. This family eventually monopolized the mines which the monks exploited. The first mention of the town dates from the time of Theodoric II, Duke of Lorraine, who returned in 1078 to Lièpvre's convent Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines's tithes and that of the Saint Blaise's nearby village. These possessions made left for Lièpvre's convent which had been deprived of him in 1052 by Gérard d'Alsace, his father. Gérard d'Alsace descended from the family who reigned over Alsace in the 7th century, the name of