Luxembourg - Lëtzebuerg - Infos des Landbesitzers:

Luxembourg City is the capital of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg with a population of 90.000, three times bigger than the next biggest commune. It is located in southern Luxembourg - or Lëtzebuerg, as it is called in local language - at the heart of Western Europe, situated 188 km from Brussels, 289 km from Paris, 190 km from Cologne. Luxembourg City is one of the most wealthy cities in the world, having developed into a banking and administrative centre. Luxembourg is a seat of several institutions of the European Union, e.g. European Court of Justice, European Court of Auditors or the European Investment Bank.

Luxembourg City was founded back in 963 by Count Siegfried, choosing the Bock promontory to build his fortress. It should become, together with the first market near St Michael’s Church, the cradle of the city, surrounded by a simple fortification, being extended to the west over the years using rocks and valleys as natural defence. All these powerful ramparts, however, did not prevent the Burgundians from taking this strategically important city in a surprise attack in 1443. Within the next four centuries, the best military engineers ended up transforming the city into one of the mightiest emplacements in the world, called “Gibraltar of the North”. The fortress ramparts and the historically impressive Old Town enjoy international reputation: in 1994, UNESCO listed them as World Heritage.

Three girdles of battlements provided its defence: the inner one was fortified with bastions; the second included fifteen forts and the third was composed of an exterior wall, counting nine forts, all hewn into the rock. An extraordinary network of 23 km of underground tunnels – the so-called casemates – and more than 40.000 sqm of bombproof rooms were hewn in the rocky foundations of the city. They were capable of sheltering not only thousands of defenders with their equipment and their horses, but also workshops for artillery and arms, kitchens, bakeries and slaughterhouses. The fortifications covered a surface of 180 ha, while the city counted only about 120 ha, including its lower districts.

www.lcto.lu
en.wikipedia.org/...8city%29