Centre, Gruef

Situated near the Cathedral and the Government district, Place de Clairefontaine was redesigned at the end of the eighties in the framework of extensive restoration and reconstruction involving the entire district. The name of the square comes from a place of shelter, a refuge belonging to the abbey of Clairefontaine which is near the Belgian border. The same refuge was demolished in 1933. A monument in honour of Grand Duchess Charlotte (1896-1985), designed by the Parisian sculptor Jean Cardot, was erected on this square in April,1990. Grand Duchess Charlotte Among the famous statues in Luxembourg, the statue of Grand Duchess Charlotte on Place de Clairefontaine was designed by the french sculptor Jean Cardot. On 29th April 1990, the 2.75-metre-high bronze statue was officially inaugurated in the presence of the Grand Ducal family. Grand Duchess Charlotte (1896-1985), who was very popular with the Luxembourgers, ruled from 1919 to 1964.

A wall like a blank page is the concept behind the project "LE MUR Luxembourg". Inspired by the "MUR Oberkampf" in Paris, where over 300 artists have left their mark over the years, and following on from the graffiti project at the ventilation tower at Place Guillaume II, "LE MUR LUXEMBOURG" will feature graffiti and street art in a range of styles on its 30 m2 urban canvas.

We go down into the Petruss Valley and follow the stream to its mouth into the Alzette, which we cross. We climb the rock stairs to the Rumm Plateau and walk through the districts Gronn and Clausen and cross the Alzette once more before starting the ascent back to the city centre.

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.