Luxembourg City

The first settlements within today's city limits were made by Franks in the Alzette valley, around what are now Dommeldange, Pfaffenthal and the Grund. In 963, through an exchange with the abbey of Saint Maximin in Trier, Count Siegfried acquired a small fort called Lucilinburhuc and began building a castle on the Bock, a rock promontory above the river. A town grew up beside it on the plateau, and around 1340, under John the Blind, new walls were built that stood until 1867.

For the next five centuries the town was above all a fortress. Burgundians, Habsburgs, Spaniards, French and Prussians fought over it and rebuilt it; under French rule Marshal Vauban enlarged the defences, and the Austrians added more in the 1730s and 1740s, when Fort Thüngen was built. A vast system of underground passages and galleries, the casemates, was cut into the rock of the Bock.

After the Luxembourg Crisis, the 1867 Treaty of London required the fortifications to be dismantled. Parks such as the city park were laid out on the demolished bastions, the Gare district grew around the railway station, and the Adolphe Bridge of 1903 tied the two together. In 1920 and 1921 Eich, Hamm, Hollerich and Rollingergrund were merged into the city. After the Second World War the capital became a seat of European institutions, most of them built on the Kirchberg plateau, and in 1994 its old quarters and fortifications were added to the UNESCO World Heritage list.

The city's identity is bound up with its landscape: the old town on the plateau, the valley districts of the Grund, Clausen and Pfaffenthal below, and the bridges, lifts and paths that link them. Much of that fortress landscape is protected, and large areas inside the city limits are kept as parks, woods and even farmland.

Cultural life is generous for a city of this size. Two municipal theatres, the Grand Théâtre and the Théâtre des Capucins, share the stage with the Philharmonie on Kirchberg, and the main museums include the national museum on the Fish Market, the city museum, Mudam and the Villa Vauban, with galleries such as the Casino Luxembourg. The Villa Louvigny in the city park, long the headquarters of the broadcaster RTL, hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 1962 and 1966. The largest indoor venue in the country, d'Coque on Kirchberg, holds about 8,300 people.

The calendar mixes old Catholic customs with city fairs. On Easter Monday the Emaischen fills the Fish Market with stalls selling clay bird whistles, and from late August the Schueberfouer funfair takes over the Glacis for 20 days, a tradition that reached its 681st edition in 2023. Luxembourgish, French and German are all in use in public life.

About 138,000 people lived in the city at the end of 2025, more than three times as many as in Esch-sur-Alzette, the next largest commune. Foreigners make up about 70 per cent of residents, drawn from around 160 nationalities, the highest share of any commune in the country.

The economy rests on banking and administration. The Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Court of Auditors, the European Investment Bank, the European Stability Mechanism, Eurostat and other EU bodies are based here, most of them on Kirchberg, which is also the main business district. In 2024 the IMF ranked Luxembourg first in the world for GDP per head.

The city is not densely built, at about 2,600 people per square kilometre. The old valley districts have only a thousand or so residents each, while residential districts such as Limpertsberg and Gare have more than 11,000 each. Free public transport, a tram line completed in 2025 between the airport and the national stadium, and lifts between the plateaus shape the daily commute. Markets on Place Guillaume II, Place de Paris and in Bonnevoie, and a monthly market on the Glacis, are part of the weekly routine.

Perhaps the most traditional of Luxembourg's meat dishes is judd mat gaardebounen, smoked collar of pork with broad beans. Other home dishes include Bouneschlupp, a green bean soup; Träipen, black pudding served with apple sauce; liver dumplings with sauerkraut and boiled potatoes; and sausages with mashed potatoes and horseradish. Kachkéis, a soft cheese spread also known as cancoillotte, is the country's cheese speciality.

Gromperekichelcher, spiced potato pancakes with chopped onion and parsley, are deep-fried. Rieslingspaschtéit is a loaf-shaped meat pie made with Riesling and aspic and served in slices, and fruit tarts such as Quetschentaart, made with plums, can be found in any pastry shop. Lent brings the pretzel, and small sugar-dusted doughnuts called verwurelt Gedanken are another local pastry.

The wines come from the Moselle valley in the south-east: Riesling, Pinot gris, Pinot blanc, Auxerrois, Rivaner, Elbling and the sparkling Crémant de Luxembourg. The main beers are Bofferding, Mousel, Diekirch and Simon. Clausen's brewing history goes back to the 12th century, and its bars and those of the Grund are where much of the city goes out to drink.