Founding

Luxembourg’s official founding took place in 963, when Count Siegfried bought a rock outcrop on the Alzette River by the church in the nearby town of Trier.

The rocky promontory was the meeting point of two ancient Roman roads, and there is believed to have been a form of military settlement called Lucilinburhuc, which later became Luxembourg. Lucilinburhuc means a small fortress, which is still clearly seen in many places in the city today.

The rocks were quickly built by Siegfried with a castle, and soon after the first urban construction came. It was among other craftsmen and traders who settled on and below the castle cliff, and thus the so-called upper and lower cities were already established at this early stage of Luxembourg’s history.

Growing the city

The place quickly proved to be of clear strategic importance to the area that Siegfried had intended. Over the next several centuries, strengthened fortifications of the ever-expanding settlement were the largest civil engineering works. At the end of the 1100s, the first ring of stone bastions was erected, and thus it was possible to talk about an actual city.

At the beginning of the 1300s, the population pressure on the original, five-hectare city within the walls had become so significant that new defenses were built to the west so that Luxembourg could be expanded in this direction to 23 hectares. It was a major expansion, and the new western city wall (which ran at today’s Boulevard Royal) also formed the city boundary until 1867. The population at the beginning of the 1300s was 5,000.

Duchy and new rulers

In 1354, Luxembourg gained the status of duchy, and in the following centuries became involved in the political and military battles of the surrounding powers. The first time was in 1443, when Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, conquered the city, which was integrated into the territory of the Netherlands. In doing so, Luxembourg was also included in the clashes with the Habsburgs.

Luxembourg changed hands four times within a number of years before joining the victorious Spanish Habsburgs. Spaniards strengthened the city’s defenses, and the result was a heavily fortified city that had not only been strengthened against the open plain to the west, but also on the slopes to the river valleys of the north, south and east.

French, Habsburg and German times

The Habsburg era lasted until 1684, when Louis XIV’s French troops, under the military engineer Vauban’s leadership, conquered Luxembourg. During the 13-year French rule, Vauban expanded and restructured the city’s defense in great style. The lower neighborhoods, which were more difficult to defend, were integrated throughout the area’s defense through new buildings.

In 1697, Luxembourg was returned to the Habsburgs, and after that was almost a century of relative calm. By the end of the 18th century, the population had risen to around 8,500.

Eventually, the power of the Spanish Habsburgs was weakened, and after a long blockade, France conquered Luxembourg in 1795. Through peace negotiations after the Napoleonic Wars, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg was established as part of the German Confederation in 1815, and in this connection the city became a German garrison city.

Neutrality and Growth

In 1867 there was a close outbreak of war between Bismarck’s Germany and Napoleon III’s France. The war was avoided, and with the signing of the London Peace Agreement, Luxembourg was declared a neutral state in continued personnel union with the Netherlands. A concrete consequence was also that large parts of the city of Luxembourg’s defense works had to be demolished.

After a 900 year period as a fortress city, Luxembourg now had to find a new identity without the many defense buildings. Soon it became clear that it created a unique opportunity for unprecedented expansion, as the old city walls’ growth boundaries were no longer an obstacle, neither geographically nor population wise. Examples of that planning were the construction of the city park to the west, the suburbs of Belair and Limpertsberg as well as the avenue Avenue de la Liberté on the Bourbon Plateau. Many new inhabitants arrived, and after World War I, 46,500 people lived in the city.

Towards today

During the First World War, Luxembourg was occupied by German troops during the period August 1914-November 1918. During World War II, the city and the country were again occupied, and the capital was liberated on September 10, 1944. Subsequently, bombings continued from German V3 guns.

Luxembourg sought to get international organizations established in the city, and this quickly escalated from 1952, when foreign ministers from landing in the predecessor of today’s EU, the Coal and Steel Union, met in the city and decided to make it the provisional headquarters. With the establishment of the EC in 1957, several of the common market institutions were established in Luxembourg: the Court, the Investment Bank and Parliament’s Secretariat are some of them.

From the 1960s, construction in Luxembourg increased again. The European quarter of the suburb of Kirchberg was built, and today 8,000 work here. The financial sector also grew sharply, the number of bank representations growing from 17 in 1960 to 218 in 1994.

In addition to prosperity, the EU and the financial sector have brought a high degree of internationalization. Thus, almost half of Luxembourg’s inhabitants are foreigners. It leaves its mark on the city, which, despite its modest size in the European context, seems like a cosmopolitan metropolis with an exciting cultural life.