RTL Today - Knowledge Bites: Luxembourg's more unconventional museums

Yeah, sure you could go to the Drai Eechelen Museum or the MUDAM, but you have art galleries and history museums everywhere. How about visiting some of Luxembourg's more idiosyncratic spots?

As anybody who might have decided to visit a full list of Luxembourg's museums will have found, the Grand Duchy has a plethora of museums - some more unique than others! We have the usual museums on modern art, history and art, military history, and more, but there are also some museums that are both idiosyncratic and oh so very Luxembourgish! Others are perhaps less Luxembourgish, but I've certainly learnt something in drawing up this list.

Oh-so-Luxembourgish

Bank Museum Luxembourg

Address: 1, Place de Metz
L-2954 Luxembourg City, open Monday to Friday between 9 am and 5.30 pm.

First on the list is one that ticks off a classic Luxembourg stereotype: banks. Yes indeed, the BCEE has actually got a guided tour of its head office available for those of you who are simply fascinated by banks. Admittedly a niche interest, it does make sense on paper, given how Luxembourg's financial sector boomed in recent decades. At any rate, if you would like to know more about the history of banks in Luxembourg and the Spuerkees's history in particular, this is the place to go!

Tram and Bus Museum

Address: 63, rue de Bouillon
L-1248 Luxembourg City, open Thursday between 1.30 pm and 5.30 pm and Saturdays, Sundays and on public holidays from 10 am to 6 pm.

Moving on to another stalwart of Luxembourgish nation-branding as we know it: the tram! But this isn't the tram as we know it. The museum explores the history of Luxembourg City's trams - many moons ago - and buses, with working models dating back to the 60s.

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Rural and Artisanal Museum Peppange

Address: 38, rue de Crauthem
L-3390 Peppange, open 1 March - 31 October, Tuesday to Friday from 2 pm to 5 pm, and 2 pm to 6 pm on weekends.

Many moons ago when I was a young warthog (child, I mean), I remember going to the Rural and Artisanal Museum in Peppange, which hosts interactive old-timey farm experiences on its site, a farm dating from 1849. The highlight was baking bread and consuming said bread on the bus home, but you could also view exhibitions, sit in an old-fashioned classroom, and wash clothes by hand. Yes, really. Anyway, farming is yet another cornerstone of Luxembourgish tropes and naturally, there is a museum to accompany the trope. The site also houses the Grand Duchess Charlotte Horse-cart Museum and the Ancient Metalwork Museum.

The Rural and Artisanal Museum in Peppange / © Vum Johnny Chicago at lb.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15341045

There is also a Wine Museum, which is along the Moselle river - as we could expect - but alas, it is closed for renovation until 2025.

Quirky museums

Dicks Museum

Address: 96-98 Grand-rue
L-9410 Vianden, open from Easter to the second Sunday of October from 11 am to 5 pm.

Okay, indulge me in being childish for a moment as this isn't a museum about male genitals. The Musée Dicks, as it is known in French, has been translated to the Vianden City History Museum in English and revolves around Luxembourg's national poet Edmond de la Fontaine alias Dicks. We can see why the name was changed in English, but for anybody slightly immature, it warrants a chuckle.

Print and Playing Card Museum of Luxembourg

Address: 54, route de Trèves
L-6793 Grevenmacher, open Tuesday to Sunday from 2 pm to 6pm.

I for one did not know there was any particular connection between Luxembourg and playing cards (despite loving a good card game), but there is enough of one to warrant a museum. The museum also holds an exhibition on the history of printing (a la Gutenberg, not HP). The main exhibition focuses on playing cards, as the name might suggest, broadly due to the history of the Dieudonné family - a family that produced playing cards in Grevenmacher for five generations, from 1754 to 1880. The exhibition also explores the political context, as contemporary politics were closely linked to playing cards at the time. Who knew?

Jhangelis Gare

Address: Rue de Noerdange
L-8545 Niederpallen

And of course, do you even have museums if you don't have something railway related? Jhangeli is a colloquial Luxembourgish expression used to describe the narrow-gauge railways that have since closed. This former station in Niederpallen exhibits the line that connected Noerdange through to Martelange, which closed in 1953. The line has since been transformed into a cycling route and the Niederpallen station is now a small museum, complete with a 1937 locomotive on show.

Any other unique museums you've enjoyed in Luxembourg? Let us know in the comments!

If you're more into the popular museums rather than niche interests, we've got a fair amount of recommendations in our links below!