Luxembourg City and Country – Cultural Metropolis and Grand Duchy
The city of Luxembourg is one of the European Union’s three official capitals, and, situated at the crossroads of France, Germany and Belgium, it is the commercial centre of the Greater Region. It is also an unparalleled cultural metropolis. Luxemburg is characterized by the encounter of numerous cultures and languages – over 60% of its residents come from other countries, with around 120.000 commuters daily. The city of Luxembourg is the cosmopolitan centre of the region between Trier, Saarbrucken, Metz and Liège. With its thousand year history, its impressive location atop the cliffs of the old fortress (UNESCO World Cultural Heritage since 1994) and with its international cuisine, Luxembourg is an impressive metropolis in the heart of Europe.

For the first time in 2007, two of Luxembourg’s distinguished cultural institutions, the Philharmonie and the Grand Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg, presented the Luxembourg Festival together, an artistic programme of the highest calibre. This programme is accompanied by further activities such as the remarkable art exhibits made possible by Luxembourg’s two internationally esteemed museums for contemporary art, the MUDAM – Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean and the Casino Luxembourg – Forum d’art contemporain.

Stepping outside the city limits, the Grand Duchy has a multitude of other worthwhile attractions. The abbatial city of Echternach, founded in the seventh century by Saint Willibrord, is as Luxembourg’s oldest city with its unique dancing procession a candidate for the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. The recently initiated «Trifolion», with concerts from the renowned International Festival Echternach, is the cultural middle point of the eastern Grand Duchy. In addition, Luxembourg’s historical tourist attractions are backdrops for countless events. At the head of the list are innumerable castles and palaces, for example, the concerts in the Knights’ Hall of Castle Bourglinster, the art festival «Art in Beaufort», the open air theatre at Castle Bourscheid or the venerable Music Festival in the Amphitheatre at Wiltz Palace. In Castle Clervaux, Edward Steichen’s «The Family of Man» (created in 1955 for New York’s MoMA, on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register since 2003) is on permanent exhibit.