The Place d'Armes ( lb, Plëss d'Arem, or simply ''Plëss'') is a square 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 Gr ...

in the south of the

Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

. Centrally placed in the old town, it attracts large numbers of locals and visitors, especially in the summer months. It originally served as a parade ground for the troops defending the city.

History

After a huge fire in 1554 destroyed a large part of the

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 ...

, plans were made to lay out a square in the centre of the fortified town. The task was assigned to the Dutch military engineer Sebastian van Noyen who designed the first version of the square, then known as the Neumarkt, or New Market. In 1671, the Spanish engineer Jean Charles de Landas, Count of Louvigny, produced a slightly smaller square at the same location. It became known as the Place d'Armes as it was used as a parade ground for the garrison. Under

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...

, it was paved with flagstones and bordered with lime trees.Jean-Pierre Koltz, "Baugeschichte der Stadt und Festung Luxemburg, Vol I.". Luxembourg, Sankt-Paulus-Druckerei, 1972, pp. 118–119.

The Place d’Armes today

Now an integral part of the

pedestrian zone Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, as pedestrian precincts in British English, and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of a city or town reserved for pedestrian-only use and in whi ...

, the square is surrounded by numerous cafés and restaurants, all with pavement terraces in the summer months. It has become the city's main centre of activity, attracting locals and visitors of all ages. Visiting bands and music groups present concerts from the central bandstand every summer evening. Every second and fourth Saturday, there is a flea market and in December the square houses the Christmas market.

Cercle Municipal

The Palais Municipal or Cercle as it is generally known stands at the eastern end of the square. It was originally designed as an administrative building with reception rooms. The main structure was completed in 1906 but work on the interior took until 1909. On the facade, there is a sculpture by Luxembourg artist P. Federspiel of Countess Ermisinde granting the Charter of Emancipation in 1244 which guaranteed the citizens rights and duties towards the nobility. Dicks-Lentz monument

After a period when it was used for the European Court of Justice the Palais Municipal has, since 1969, served as a venue for celebrations and cultural events. A plaque on the Cercle Municipal records the liberation of Luxembourg during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. It reads: :On this square, on 10 September 1944 the people of Luxembourg warmly welcomed its liberators, the valiant soldiers of the US 5th Armored Division and their royal highnesses Prince Felix of Luxembourg and Prince John hereditary grand duke of Luxembourg.

Dicks-Lentz monument

At the western end of the Place d'Armes on Square Jan Pallach, there is monument by Pierre Federspiel celebrating Luxembourg's two national poets

Dicks Dick, Dicks, or Dick's may refer to: Media * ''Dicks'' (album), a 2004 album by Fila Brazillia * Dicks (band), a musical group * ''Dick'' (film), a 1999 American comedy film * "Dick" (song), a 2019 song by Starboi3 featuring Doja Cat Names ...

(1823–1891) and

Michel Lentz Michel Lentz (21 May 1820 – 8 September 1893) was a Luxembourg poet. He is best known for having written '' Ons Hémécht'', the national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of ...

(1820–1893), who wrote the words of the national anthem. The lion at the top of the monument represents the Grand Duchy, while the blacksmith symbolizes the steel industry. The inscription on the pillar: ''Mir wëlle bleiwe wat mir sin'' (We want to stay what we are) is the motto of the Luxembourgers."Luxembourg Tourism Guide".
''Allo'Expat Luxembourg''. Retrieved 30 September 2010.

Gallery

File:Luxembourg Place d'Armes.JPG, Terraces: Place d'Armes File:Luxemb City pl d Armes 02.jpg, The Place d'Armes bandstand File:Ermesinde Cercle Municipal.JPG, Sculpture showing Ermesinde granting the Charter of Emancipation File:Place d'Armes Luxbg2.JPG, Summer flea market (June 2011)

References