Luxembourg (; ; ), also known as Luxembourg City ( or ; ; or ), is the capital city of Luxembourg and the country's most populous commune. Standing at the confluence of the Alzette and Pétrusse rivers in southern Luxembourg, the city lies in the center of Western Europe, situated by road from Brussels and from Cologne.
, Luxembourg City has a population of 137,696 inhabitants, which is more than three times the population of the country's second most populous commune (Esch-sur-Alzette). The population consists of 160 nationalities. Foreigners represent 69.5% of the city's population, whilst Luxembourgers represent 30.5% of the population, making it the commune with the highest proportion of foreign residents in Luxembourg.
In 2024, Luxembourg was ranked by the IMF as having the highest GDP per capita in the world at $140,310 (PPP), with the city having developed into a banking and administrative centre. In the 2019 Mercer worldwide survey of 231 cities, Luxembourg was placed first for personal safety, while it was ranked 18th for quality of living.
Luxembourg is one of the de facto capitals of the European Union (alongside Brussels, Frankfurt and Strasbourg), as it is the seat of several institutions, agencies and bodies, including the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Court of Auditors, the Secretariat of the European Parliament, the European Public Prosecutor's Office, the European Investment Bank, the European Investment Fund, the European Stability Mechanism, Eurostat, as well as other European Commission departments and services. The Council of the European Union meets in the city for three months annually.
History
Development as a fortress
In the Roman era, a fortified tower may have been constructed to guard the crossing of two Roman roads that met on the territory of what is now Luxembourg City, although historian claims no structure is believed to have existed at said crossing. Some of the earliest known settlements within modern city boundaries were established by Frankish colonizers in the Alzette valley around what is now Dommeldange, Pfaffenthal and the Grund. As of 926, 73 inhabitants were living in the valley between Dommeldange and Clausen.
In 963, through an exchange treaty with the abbey of Saint Maximin in Trier, Siegfried I of the Ardennes - a close relative of King Louis II of France and Emperor Otto the Great - acquired the castellum Lucilinburhuc ("small castle"), a military structure built around the 9th or early 10th century on what is now the Fish Market. This structure would serve as an outpost to the fortified castle - which retained the name of Lucilinburhuc - which Siegfried then began constructing on the Bock Fiels ("rock"), mentioned for the first time in the aforementioned exchange treaty.
In 987, Archbishop Egbert of Trier consecrated five altars in the Church of the Redemption (today St. Michael's Church). At a Roman road intersection near the church, the Fish Market appeared, around which the city developed.
The city, because of its location and natural geography, has through history been a place of strategic military significance. The first fortifications were built as early as the 10th century. By the mid-13th century and the reign of Countess Ermesinde, who granted the city its charter in 1244, Luxembourg had expanded westward around the new St. Nicholas Church (today the Cathedral of Notre Dame), with new walls built that included an area of . In about 1340, under the reign of John the Blind, new fortifications were built that stood until 1867.
In 1443, the Burgundians under Philip the Good conquered Luxembourg. Luxembourg became part of the Burgundian, and later Spanish and Austrian empires (See Spanish Netherlands and Spanish Road) and under those Habsburg administrations Luxembourg Castle was repeatedly strengthened so that by the 16th century, Luxembourg itself was one of the strongest fortifications in Europe. Subsequently, the Burgundians, the Spanish, the French, the Spanish again, the Austrians, the French again, and the Prussians conquered Luxembourg.
On 11 June 1554, during a storm over the city, lightning struck the church of the Franscican convent, on the current site of the Place Guillaume II, the attic of which was serving as a gunpowder magazine. The ensuing explosion sent flaming pieces of the church roof flying into a wide radius, setting fire to the mostly thatched or shingled rooves of buildings. A large part of the Ville Haute was destroyed, causing an unknown number of casualties. Dutch military engineer Sebastiaan van Noyen was tasked with drawing a reconstruction plan, but most of his proposals failed to be implemented in following years, being disregarded by citizens when rebuilding their homes. His vision of a large new central square, the forum novum, was only realised in 1671, with the creation of the Place d'Armes.
In the 17th century, the first casemates were built; initially, Spain built of tunnels, starting in 1644. These were then enlarged under French rule by Marshal Vauban, and augmented again under Austrian rule in the 1730s and 1740s.
During the French Revolutionary Wars, the city was occupied by France twice: once, briefly, in 1792–93, and, later, after a seven-month siege.Kreins (2003), p. 64 Luxembourg held out for so long under the French siege that French politician and military engineer Lazare Carnot called Luxembourg "the best fortress in the world, except Gibraltar", giving rise to the city's nickname: the 'Gibraltar of the North'.
Nonetheless, the Austrian garrison eventually surrendered, and as a consequence, Luxembourg was annexed by the French Republic, becoming part of the département of Forêts, with Luxembourg City as its préfecture. Under the 1815 Treaty of Paris, which ended the Napoleonic Wars, Luxembourg City was placed under Prussian military control as a part of the German Confederation, although sovereignty passed to the House of Orange-Nassau, in personal union with the United Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Transition to a modern city
After the Luxembourg Crisis, the 1867 Treaty of London required Luxembourg to dismantle the fortifications in Luxembourg City. By that time, the city had an area of , while the surrounding defensive works took up , around which a building restriction perimeter of nearly , first established by the Austrians in 1749 for security reasons, had made further urbanisation impossible. Their demolition, which would signify the opening of the city, took sixteen years, cost 1.5 million gold francs, and required the destruction of over of underground defences and of casemates, batteries, barracks, etc. Furthermore, the Prussian garrison was to be withdrawn.
When, in 1890, Grand Duke William III died without any male heirs, the Grand Duchy passed out of Dutch hands, and into an independent line under Grand Duke Adolphe. Thus, Luxembourg, which had hitherto been independent in theory only, became a truly independent country, and Luxembourg City regained some of the importance that it had lost in 1867 by becoming the capital of a fully independent state.
Despite Luxembourg's best efforts to remain neutral in the First World War, it was occupied by Germany on 2 August 1914. On 30 August, Helmuth von Moltke moved his headquarters to Luxembourg City, closer to his armies in France in preparation for a swift victory. However, the victory never came, and Luxembourg would play host to the German high command for another four years. At the end of the occupation, Luxembourg City was the scene of an attempted communist revolution; on 9 November 1918, communists declared a socialist republic, but it lasted only a few hours.
In 1920 and 1921, the city limits were greatly expanded, with the communes of Eich, Hamm, Hollerich, and Rollingergrund all merging with Luxembourg City. Until then, the city proper had only had an area of ; the merger gave Luxembourg City a new area of , making the city the largest commune in the country (a position that it would hold until 1978).
In 1940, Germany occupied Luxembourg again. The Nazis were not prepared to allow Luxembourgers self-government, and gradually integrated Luxembourg into the Third Reich by informally attaching the country administratively to a neighbouring German province. Under the occupation, the capital city's streets all received new, German names, which was announced on 4 October 1940. The Avenue de la Liberté for example, a major road leading to the railway station, was renamed "Adolf-Hitlerstraße". On 26 March 1943, Nazi authorities expanded the city's boundaries by incorporating the communes of Strassen and Walferdange and parts of the commune of Hesperange. Luxembourg City was liberated on 10 September 1944, after which the pre-occupation city boundaries were restored. The city was under long-range bombardment by the German V-3 cannon in December 1944 and January 1945.
After the war, Luxembourg ended its neutrality, and became a founding member of several inter-governmental and supra-governmental institutions. In 1952, the city became the headquarters of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community. In 1967, the High Authority was merged with the commissions of the other European institutions; although Luxembourg City was no longer the seat of the ECSC, it hosted some part-sessions of the European Parliament until 1981. Luxembourg remains the seat of the European Parliament's secretariat, as well as the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Court of Auditors, and the European Investment Bank. Several departments of the European Commission are also based in Luxembourg. The Council of the EU meets in the city for the months of April, June and October annually.
Geography
Topography
Luxembourg City lies on the southern part of the Luxembourg plateau, a large Early Jurassic sandstone formation that forms the heart of the Gutland, a low-lying and flat area that covers the southern two-thirds of the country.
The city centre occupies a picturesque site on a salient, perched high on precipitous cliffs that drop into the narrow valleys of the Alzette and Pétrusse rivers, whose confluence is in Luxembourg City. The deep gorges cut by the rivers are spanned by many bridges and viaducts, including the Adolphe Bridge, the Grand Duchess Charlotte Bridge, and the Passerelle. Although Luxembourg City is not particularly large, its layout is complex, as the city is set on several levels, straddling hills and dropping into the two gorges.
The commune of Luxembourg City covers an area of over , or 2% of the Grand Duchy's total area. This makes the city the fourth-largest commune in Luxembourg, and by far the largest urban area. Luxembourg City is not particularly densely populated, at about 2,600 people per km2; large areas of Luxembourg City are maintained as parks, forested areas, or sites of important heritage (particularly the UNESCO sites), while there are also large tracts of farmland within the city limits.
Districts of Luxembourg City
Luxembourg City is subdivided into twenty-four districts (), which cover the commune in its entirety. The districts generally correspond to the major neighbourhoods and suburbs of Luxembourg City, although a few of the historic districts, such as Bonnevoie, are divided between two districts.
Climate Luxembourg City has an oceanic climate (Cfb), with moderate precipitation, cold to cool winters and warm summers. It is cloudy about two-thirds of the year.
Demographics
As of 2021, 51.9% of the population are male, and 48.1% are female. People younger than 15 years old make up 13.0% of the population, and people 65 years old or older make up 12.0%.
Immigration As of 2021, immigrants make up 72.7% of the total population. 49.1% were born in other countries of the European Union, and 23.6% were born outside of the European Union.
Government Local government