UNESCO site manager and tour guide Roger Philippart explains why 2,5% of the City’s territory is classified: “It was an initiative of then Minister of Culture Jacques Santer. He wanted to contact someone who could possibly classify the site of Luxembourg as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Then we’d be on the world map of tourism and it would mark a wonderful start to the year of culture of 1995.”
From Place Guillaume II through the City Museum to the Rose Gardens, guide Philippart explains how the State and City of Luxembourg have both protected the Old Town, a district with extraordinary, universal value. But the decision 25 years ago did have a concrete impact on the development of the capital as a whole. Not just in the ‘Red Zone’, as set by UNESCO.
“There were projects to buy up and demolish all of the stores in the Grand-Rue. Then the idea arose to develop the neighbourhood around Luxexpo, and also develop a city development plan for Kirchberg. So the sites work together instead, and not one who cannibalises the other”, says Philippart.
Today there is a lot of construction taking place in the old town. The goal is to create an inclusive city by 2030 which everyone can identify with. According to UNESCO, a city must be environmentally conscious and climate-friendly.
“When a new construction project came along, like now on the Côte d’Eich or in the Grand-Rue, for instance, the elements were integrated by in such a way that they were not disturbing. They even took out misfitting items, such as the Baloise building”, Philippart goes on to say.
The City has become more harmonious since 1994. A city that combines medieval, classical and modern elements.
