Belgium and Luxembourg (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

240 BELGIUM AND LUXEMBOURG REGION BY REGION

For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp274–5 and pp300–301

P Palais Grand-Ducal
Rue du Marché-aux-Herbes 17.
n 222809 (tourist office). # mid-
Jul–Aug: Thu–Tue. & 8 4pm.
http://www.monarchie.lu
The official residence of the
grand duke of Luxembourg,
the Palais Grand-Ducal occu-
pies the site of the old medi-
eval town hall. The earliest
part dates from 1573, when it
was built as the residence of
the governor of Luxembourg.
This section includes the
Flemish Renaissance façade.
The palace was extended in
the 18th century, and in 1890
it became the winter residence
of the grand dukes. In summer,
guided tours take visitors
around the sumptuous interior,
where the ceremonial rooms
are lit by chandeliers and dec-
orated with tapestries, stucco,
carved wood panelling and
wall paintings. The Chamber
of Deputies stands to the right
of the palace and was built in
1859 in Neo-Gothic style.

Bustling, elegant Luxembourg City is the largest urban
centre in the country. Its main draw, La Vieille Ville (The
Old Town), is perched high on an escarpment over the
rivers Alzette and Pétrusse which flow through verdant
ravines below. This historic centre is bound by cliffs that
once made the city an easily defensible stronghold. The
three Villes Basses (Lower Towns) – Grund, Clausen and
Pfaffenthal – hug the eastern side of the Old Town. A
munitions explosion in 1554 damaged the town, and the
stately web of streets and squares seen here today was
built during the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1867, the
city was demilitarized and most of its ramparts were
demolished. Only the casemates survived – dank gunnery
compartments and tunnels carved into the rocks, which
are a strange contrast to the charm of the city above.

P Casemates de Pétrusse

Place de la Constitution. # school

holidays: 11am–4pm. & 8

Located underground, the

casemates are a set of dark

rooms carved out of the sand-

stone rockface by the Spanish

in the 1640s, to provide gun

emplacements overlooking

the valley. In 1684, they were

developed further by the

military engineer Vauban for

Louis XIV, and again in the

18th century by the Austrians.

Sealed after 1867, they were

rediscovered in 1933.

R Cathédrale Notre-Dame

Rue Notre Dame. # 10am–noon

and 2–5:30pm daily. http://www.

cathedrale.lu

A curious patchwork of history

and styles, Luxembourg’s main

cathedral, with its dainty 20th-

century twin spires, is one of

the most eye-catching land-

marks of the city. Inside, the

nave is early 17th-century and

has an ornate Renaissance

gallery beneath the organ loft.

A gallery on the left of the

nave is reserved for the royal

family. This central part was

extended in the 1930s in a

derivative Art Deco style,

and the choir is a Neo-Gothic

addition of the same era.

The apse holds the church’s

most famed treasure – a 17th-

century wooden statue of the

Madonna and Child known

as the Consolatrix Afflictorum.

Crowned and dressed in elab-

orate robes, the Madonna is

the object of veneration and

pilgrimage, and the focus of

the Octave festival (see p35).

The crypt contains the vault

of the grand ducal family and

a 17th-century tomb, depicting

the entombment of Christ,

with seven attendants, created

for the remains of the heroic

Jean l’Aveugle (1296–1346),

Count of Luxembourg and

King of Bohemia. He lost

his sight as an adult, but still

took to the field with France

against the English at the Battle

of Crécy, and was killed.

Luxembourg City 1

Arched doorway leading into the

city’s Cathédrale Notre-Dame

River Alzette wending its way through the Lower Town, a view from the city’s medieval ramparts