According to abbreviationfinder, Luxembourg City is the capital and residence town of the country Luxembourg, 230-380 m above the sea level, on both sides of the deep valleys of Alzette and Pétrusse with (2019) 119200 Residents by far the largest city in the country.
Government and administration occupy a dominant position among the numerous central functions of the city: Luxembourg is the official seat of the Grand Duke, the government, the ministries, numerous authorities and diplomatic missions. EU bodies are the Secretariat of the European Parliament and some services of the Commission of the European Communities, the European Court of Justice, the European Court of Auditors and the European Investment Bank. It is mainly because of these facilities that Luxembourg is a multicultural city; around 70% of the residents are foreign nationals.
The city is a cultural, commercial and financial center as well as a means of transport for the country. The most important educational institutions are the institutes of the University of Luxembourg (based in Esch an der Alzette), the state-recognized ISEC Business School and the Conservatory. In Luxembourg you will find the National Library, National Archives, numerous museums (including the Museum of Modern Art, National Museum of History and Art, National Museum of Natural History, Museum of City History, Villa Vauban (art gallery, since 2010), Museum of Post and Telecommunications), and several theaters.
Luxembourg is a traditional trade fair city; a modern exhibition building was erected on the Kirchberg plateau. With the support of Luxembourg’s monetary, banking and stock exchange legislation and tax policy, Luxembourg has become an international financial center and the seat of branches of multinational companies. The industrial operations are mainly in the suburbs: mechanical engineering, breweries, metal furniture, metal goods, pumps, porcelain, electronics, printing and publishing. Findel International Airport is the Grand Duchy’s central airport.
Attractions
The city center (upper town) lies on a plateau, in the south and east of the deeply cut valleys of the Alzette and Pétrusse, on the open northwest side surrounded by parks instead of the former fortifications. The Notre-Dame Cathedral, a former Jesuit church, is a late Gothic hall church (1613–21, north portal 1613–15; extended 1935 ff., Neo-Gothic choir), in the crypt there is the grand ducal burial place and the tomb of King John of Bohemia; the former Jesuit college is attached to the church.
The grand ducal palace was originally built in 1572-74 on the site of the city’s first town hall in the Renaissance style. Century expanded and redesigned. The Palace of Justice (originally 1565) received a renovation in the 19th century. The town hall (1830–38) is designed in a neoclassical style. The Casino Luxembourg – Forum d’art contemporain has been located in the former building of the Casino Bourgeois (1880–82, by Pierre and Paul Funck) since 1995. Remnants of the Lützelburg were uncovered on the »Bock« rock plateau. The Wenceslas Wall as well as the casemates blasted into the rock and the powder towers “Three Acorns” (1732) have been preserved from later fortifications. UNESCO declared the fortifications and parts of the old town a World Heritage Site (Luxembourg, World Heritage).
In the north of the city is the city theater (1964). The bridge over the Alzette Valley (Pont Grande-Duchesse Charlotte) to the Kirchberg plateau begins near it, flanked by the Robert Schuman Monument (1966). Since 1966, numerous Center Européen buildings have been built on the Kirchberg plateau, including Europazentrum (1966), European Parliament (1970), European Court of Justice (1973; 2008 new building by D. Perrault with two office towers), European Investment Bank (1980; 2008 expansion by the Düsseldorf architects Ingenhoven), European Court of Auditors (1988). The National Swimming Center (1982 by R. Tailibert) and the new buildings of various banks are also located here, including of Deutsche Bank (1992 by G. Böhm) and the Bayerische Landesbank (1994 by Wilhelm Kücker [* 1933, † 2014]). Bernardo Fort-Brescia (* 1951; Arquitectonica office) built the headquarters of the Banque Internationale à Luxembourg (1989) in the city center. Other notable modern buildings that have recently emerged are the new building for the Philharmonie (1997-2005), built according to plans by C. de Portzamparc, and the Museum of Modern Art (Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean), which was designed according to plans of the architecture office Pei, Cobb, Freed & Partners (in cooperation with the office Georges Reuter Architectes) was built 1999-2006. On the edge of the old town on the Heilig-Geist-Plateau, the justice district, inaugurated in 2008, was built.
History
A Celtic oppidum and a Roman settlement stood on the site of the present-day city. The Lucilinburhuc (Lützelburg), built around 963, around which several settlements arose, which received city rights in 1224, was decisive for their development. The city shared the fate of the country of Luxembourg. After a large part of the fortifications had been razed (1867–83), it was given new opportunities for expansion. After 1945, Luxembourg gained new importance as one of the European centers; it developed into an important international financial center and became (alongside Brussels and Strasbourg) the seat of important EU institutions.
