The Cercle Municipal or Cercle Cité is a building in

Luxembourg City Luxembourg ( lb, Lëtzebuerg; french: Luxembourg; german: Luxemburg), also known as Luxembourg City ( lb, Stad Lëtzebuerg, link=no or ; french: Ville de Luxembourg, link=no; german: Stadt Luxemburg, link=no or ), is the capital city of the Lu ...

, in southern Luxembourg, It is located at the eastern end of the

Place d'Armes Place may refer to: Geography * Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population ** Census-designated place, a populated area lacking its own municipal government * "Place", a type of street or road name ** Often ...

, in the historic central

Ville Haute Ville Haute ( lb, Uewerstad, german: Oberstadt) is a quarter in central Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg. It is the historic center of Luxembourg City and is involved in its UNESCO World Heritage Site status. , Ville Haute has a populatio ...

quarter A quarter is one-fourth, , 25% or 0.25. Quarter or quarters may refer to: Places * Quarter (urban subdivision), a section or area, usually of a town Placenames * Quarter, South Lanarkshire, a settlement in Scotland * Le Quartier, a settlement ...

of the city.

History

On a site where there had previously been a building intended as a ''Cercle littéraire'' but which finally housed a restaurant by the name of ''Beim Gréitchen'', the city decided to construct a grand administrative building. The design competition launched in 1902 was won in 1904 by Pierre and Paul Funck, a father and son team. The administration started to move into the neo-baroque building in 1909 but the official inauguration was in 1910. On the front, above the balcony, is a

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

depicting the granting of the city charter to Luxembourg City in 1244. The building hosted the Court of Justice of the

European Coal and Steel Community The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was a European organization created after World War II to regulate the coal and steel industries. It was formally established in 1951 by the Treaty of Paris, signed by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembo ...

, which was established in Luxembourg in 1952, until 1969. It was used as the venue of public hearings of the court until a more permanent venue could be found, whilst other work was conducted at the

Villa Vauban The Villa Vauban is an art museum in Luxembourg City. It exhibits 18th- and 19th-century paintings acquired from private collections. Background Built in 1873 as a private residence, the villa owes its name to a fort built on the same site by Sé ...

, in the

Municipal Park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to resi ...

. Through 2020 and 2021, due to restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cercle Municipal became the meeting place of the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

Renovation and reopening

In 2006, comprehensive renovation and restoration work was carried out on the Cercle in order to transform it into a convention and exhibition centre. The work was completed in April 2011 providing not only enhancements to the Grande Salle and the Foyer but also to the cellar, which can now house exhibitions, and the former loft, now the fifth floor, where four rooms form a new conference centre. It took on the name Cercle-Cité after an adjacent building on the site of the former Ciné Cité was connected to the Cercle by means of a bridge over the Rue Genistre in order to expand the Cercle's facilities.Several articles in ''Ons Stad'', No. 96, April 2011
Retrieved 7 June 2011.

References

Buildings and structures in Luxembourg City Baroque Revival architecture European Coal and Steel Community Government buildings completed in 1909 Architecture in Luxembourg Convention centres in Luxembourg {{Luxembourg-struct-stub