Page 250 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Belgium & Luxembourg

248  BEL GIUM AND L UXEMBOURG REGION B Y REGION

Exploring Luxembourg City Philharmonie Luxembourg,
a delicately columned drum
Northeast of the city centre lies the hill of Kirchberg where designed by the award-winning
modern tower blocks house many of the major European French architect Christian
institutions that make Luxembourg the third capital of the de Portzamparc.
European Union. There is much here to interest enthusiasts Kirchberg’s eastern end, with
its concentration of inter national
of modern architecture, and some cultural treasures as well. banks, includes strikingly
This includes Luxembourg’s prestigious modern art museum, innovative archi tecture, such
set in a sensational cluster of glass prisms and sweeping as the HypoVereinsbank
curves. Just below it, facing the Old Town, is an evocative Luxembourg, designed by the
fortress called Dräi Eechelen, one of many that once ringed American architect Richard
Meier, and has his sig nature
the city. Another, the Villa Vauban, stood westwards. Now white cladding. Kirchberg is also
the home of a fine municipal art collection, its military past remarkable for its Central Park,
is remembered only in its name. which contains the largest
sports arena in the country.
Dotted around this district
are public sculptures by
international artists such as
Henry Moore, Jean Dubuffet,
Frank Stella and Richard Serra.
P Centre Européen
Montée de Clausen. ∑ lcto.lu
A number of major European
institutions stand at the western
end of Kirchberg. These include
the Court of Justice of the
European Union (Cour de Justice)
The elegant Villa Vauban set in the calm environs of the city park and the European Court of
Auditors. There are also the
E Villa Vauban and 19th centuries. It includes European Investment Bank,
Avenue Émile Reuter 18. work by Jan Steen, Anthony designed by Denys Lasdun,
Tel 47964900. Open 10am–6pm Mon, van Dyck, Canaletto, Eugène architect of the National Theatre
Wed, Thu, Sat & Sun, 10am–9pm Tue & Delacroix and Gustave Courbet. in London, and the Secretariat of
Fri. & ∑ villavauban.lu The museum’s setting is also the European Parliament, which
In the 1680s, the great French a pleasure – it has its own operates from the towers,
military engineer Vauban built gardens and is surrounded by designed by Spanish architect
a set of outlying fortresses to an extensive municipal park. Ricardo Bofill, on either side of
protect the approaches to Avenue John F Kennedy. The
Luxembourg City. One of these Kirchberg tallest of these structures is the
was located on the western side Marché-aux-Poissons. Tel 479330-1. Alcide de Gasperi Building or
of the Old Town. Today, this site Open 10am–6pm Tue–Sun. & - = Tower Building, which is part of
is occupied by the 19th-century At the eastern end of the Pont the European Parliament’s
Villa Vauban. A grand residence Grande Duchesse Charlotte (built
built between 1871 and 1873, 1966) lies the raised plateau of
the villa once belonged to the Kirchberg where a host of
family of the politician, administrative, financial and
entrepreneur and philanthropist cultural buildings are
Jean-Pierre Pescatore (1793– concentrated into a strip some 3
1855). For many years, it housed km (2 miles) long. Kirchberg was
a public art museum displaying developed as the centre for
his impressive collection as well Luxembourg’s European
as other bequests to the city. institutions. In recent years,
After a five-year programme of however, a broader vision has
renovations and extension, the overtaken these bureaucratic
museum is now known as Villa beginnings and the area has
Vauban – Musée d’Art de la Ville become the focus of a num ber of
de Luxembourg. Its col lection exciting architectural projects for
of some 300 paintings consists financial institutions and the arts.
mainly of Dutch, Flemish, These include the dramatically
French, German and Italian art futuristic MUDAM building and The European Union’s Cour de Justice on the
dating from between the 17th the impressive concert hall of the Kirchberg plateau
For hotels and restaurants see p271 and pp292–93

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Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2.7)
Date 1st October 2013
Size 125mm x 217mm