Centre, Fondation Pescatore

There is a new way to explore Luxembourg since Europe’s most modern tram service and a new funicular railway started service in December 2017. The tram runs along the prestigious avenue J.F. Kennedy in the Kirchberg area, and is served by the Pfaffenthal-Kirchberg funicular which provides a link to the national train network. A few minutes’ walk through the valley from this train station brings you to a stunning panoramic lift to the upper town centre. Once at the top, you’re only a short walk from the old town, a Unesco world heritage site. Thus you move from the ultra-modern to the historic in just a few minutes. The glass elevator connects the "Pescatore" park located in the city centre to the Pfaffenthal area at the bottom of the Alzette valley. The ride in the glass elevator features sweeping views (71m high) for pedestrians and cyclists alike. Using the elevator is free of charge.

Since its creation in 1977 by the City of Luxembourg, the Cinémathèque de la Ville de Luxembourg lives by the motto “to preserve and to show” international film heritage. The Cinémathèque’s extensive archives were started by its first curator, Fred Junck, and now constitute a true Cave of Wonders of some 20,000 prints, with titles ranging from classics to much rarer features. The collection also includes other historical artefacts: posters, photos, books, magazines, and optical objects such as magic lanterns. However, a film does not exist if it is not screened. Almost 50 years after the first public screening took place in the same historic cinema located in a former monastery, the Cinémathèque organized its first film presentation in February 1977: “La Bête Humaine” by Jean Renoir. The Cinémathèque’s big screen continues to enchant audiences right up until this day and it is the last cinema in Luxembourg to still screen films on celluloid (mainly from its own collection). It thus offers spectators the opportunity to appreciate the physical materiality of film in all its facets and unite them with all those who have seen movies in the same way for the past 120 years. Besides its daily screenings, the Cinémathèque is also a place for conviviality, debates and encounters with renowned cinema personalities. The list of guests that have visited over the decades is long and includes the likes of Jonas Mekas, Juliette Binoche, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Bertrand Tavernier, Costa-Gavras, Margarethe von Trotta, Abbas Kiarostami, Mike Leigh, and, more recently, Abel Ferrara, Pedro Costa and Radu Jude.

The Villa Vauban is located in the heart of the city, surrounded by historic parkland that is the perfect place for relaxation. The stately urban villa was built in 1873 on foundations that date back to the time when Luxembourg was a fortified town. A modern extension has been added and the building was completely refurbished in the early 2000s. The museum presents changing exhibitions based on its own collections (European art from the 17th to the 19th century and Luxembourgish art from the 20th and 21st centuries).

The approximately 30-hectare city park is considered the green heart of the city and stretches from Avenue Marie-Thérèse to Avenue de la Porte-Neuve. Its history begins with the demolition of the fortress of Luxembourg after the Treaty of London in 1867. The belt of fortifications that secured the city to the northwest was largely demolished after the withdrawal of the Prussian garrison, leaving only the trees planted for camouflage. In 1878, the famous Parisian landscape architect Edouard André began planning the city park. The "Kinnekswiss" is the most extensive lawn in the city park, which makes it a popular meeting place in good weather for picnics and sports. Larger events also take place on the lawn on various occasions, such as "Kinnekswiss loves..." an open-air concert with classical music, a play festival for children on National Day or as part of "Winterlights" a Christmas market with an ice-skating rink. The city park also has an adventure playground for children in the form of a pirate ship and houses the Villa Vauban art museum, the Villa Louvigny and the Redouit Lambert fortress remains.