This week our host Olivier Catani takes you back to the fortified days of Luxembourg City, showing you the casemates and extensive underground tunnel system that protected the capital from its enemies...
RTL Today has teamed up with PISA, the Luxembourgish science magazine, to reproduce their original videos in English for our site. Watch all English videos on RTL Play, or discover the wide range of subjects previously covered in Luxembourgish here (there are 13 seasons, mind you! We'll try and catch up).
Our previous episodes covered the history of the tram, Luxembourg airport, explained how the coronavirus vaccine works, asked why traffic lights always seem to be red, investigated where our tap water comes from, looked at Luxembourg's railways since 1859, took a dive into the Moselle Valley and its underground Dolomite mines and more...
Hidden beneath Luxembourg City
In this week's episode, Olivier takes you to casemates that are normally not open to the public. He is joined by Romain Schaus, who for the past 20 years has offered guided tours of these areas as a member of the non-profit 'Friends of the Fortress of Luxembourg's History'.
Most of us think of the casemates that are visible the Grund. But there are more tunnels, namely beneath the tram tracks in Kirchberg, and they were ready to be put to good use should the situation require it.
Schaus explains their multi-purpose: "These tunnels were built for protection. If the assailants were in the middle of entrenching themselves above, they could blow them up. Mine chambers were prepared in advance for this purpose."
In total, there were 23km of corridors. Today, 17km of passageways remain, eleven of which are still open to the public. While no serious battles took place in the casemates over the old fortress' hundreds of years of history, up to 12,000 soldiers were able to hold the fort within and, if necessary, keep the enemy at bay from the safety of the fortress.
© PISA
Store champagne? Why not!
The casemates have been used in a variety of ways over the years, including serving as air raid shelters during WWII, storing French champagne, growing mushrooms, and hosting beer festivals. They were, however, built with a sole goal in mind: to protect Luxembourg City, and consequently the country, from attackers.
© PISA
These passages were first uncovered in 1963, when the Grand Duchess Charlotte Bridge and parts of the sewage system were built.
Meanwhile, the fortifications used to form a circle around the old city. All of the green spaces in the capital used to be forts, bastions, and trenches. Over time, these fortifications were built further and further away from the city centre. Examples of this include Fort Thüngen and the Wenzel Wall on the Rumm Plateau. The idea was to keep attackers as far away from the city centre as possible, thereby preventing them from firing cannons at the inner wall and gaining access to the city.
The area of the fortifications of Luxembourg City. / © PISA
The fortress was dismantled after 1867.
Floodgates around the city
There was another defensive system. The Grund floodgate was constructed around 1730. The towering walls next to the Alzette still indicate that there was something there. It could be used to flood the valley when the city was under attack.
There were three of these floodgates around the city, but the only remains left today are from the one in the Grund. However, the water was only dammed once for a test and never because of an attack.
It's special to walk through the capital today and witness so much history that remains. But most the walkways and their secrets remain hidden beneath the ground...
